Police submit report in SC on failure of Islamabad operation

The Islamabad police submitted on Wednesday a report to Supreme Court pertaining to the operation against Faizabad Interchange sit-in.

The report will be taken up by Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Qazi Faez Isa today. A hearing will also be resumed regarding a suo motu case on blockade of roads by the protesters.

On November 23, the court had directed the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Interior to re-submit their report regarding the sit-in on Thursday (today).

The report was submitted to the apex court on behalf of Inspector General of Islamabad Police Khalid Khattak, local media reported. The report explained the reason for the failure of the operation conducted by the police.

The report stated that the security personnel, who had launched the operation had been exhausted due to their prolonged deployment for last many days. “Mixed deployment of different forces, including the police, Frontier Constabulary (FC) and Pakistan Rangers, also had negative effects on productivity,” said a nine-page report submitted to the apex court.

The protesters also provoked the religious sentiments of the security forces deployed for the operation through their speeches, thus making them a hurdle in effective utilization of men.

Islamabad sit-in: SC dismisses reports, holds govt responsible

The report also added that the protesters had been prepared for the operation and were motivated religiously. They were armed with pistols, axes, stones, rods, teargas shells and masks. The protesters had even cut wires of the cameras monitoring their activities, installed within the jurisdiction of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, report further reads.

The report also censured the electronic and social media for live coverage of the operation, which had then caused gathering of more protesters from the adjoining areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

5,508 officers/officials fully equipped with anti-riot equipment had been deployed at Faizabad interchange to disperse the protesters, the report stated regarding the security plan.

The officials had been successful in clearing almost 80 percent of the area but the workers of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah from adjoining areas of Rawalpindi had gathered and had brutally attacked the forces due to which several officials had been injured and taken to hospitals.

The protesters had burnt many vehicles owned by private persons, as well as of the police during the sit in. The report revealed that 418 protesters were sent in judicial custody after investigation and challans against the culprits are being sent to the relevant courts for trial. The culprits had been registered in 27 cases between November 8 and November 25.

The police claimed that they had completely stopped the operation once word had reached them that countrywide protests had been started and problems were occurring to maintain law and order throughout the country.