ISLAMABAD: Three weeks after the terrorist bomb and gun attack on the district courts, two top officers of the Islamabad police were shown the door on Wednesday.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sikandar Hayat and Senior Superintendent of Police (operation) Dr Mohammad Rizwan were directed by the Ministry of Interior to report to the Establishment Division.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Khalid Khattak and Assistant Inspector General of Police Dr Sultan Azam Temuri were given the additional charges of the IGP and the SSP (operation), respectively.
An official of the interior ministry said the two posts would be permanently be filled within a week.
Officials in the police and the interior ministry said the police bosses were removed for their failure to improve the security situation in the city.
Besides, lawyers in the federal capital had held protest rallies after the attack, demanding the removal of the two officers. The lawyers had also approached the police to register cases against them.
A few days back, the black coats staged protest in front of Parliament House and occupied its front gates, stopping the legislators from entering the building.
Some police officials while talking to Dawn on the condition of anonymity welcomed the decision to give the charge of SSP to Mr Temuri, saying he enjoyed good reputation among his subordinates.
However, they said Mr Khattak was not a good choice for the post of the IGP because he did not have enough experience of working on a senior operational post.
They said soon after the assassination of Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan leader Azam Tariq in October 2003 at Tarnol, Mr Khattak was suspended.
At that time, he was working as the acting SSP operation in place of Shahid Nadeem Balcoh who was on leave.
An inquiry into the murder of the religious outfit leader later suggested that Mr Khattak should not be given any operational post in future.
Last year, he was given the charge of DIG headquarters, the officials added.
District courts security
In a related development, the operation wing of the capital police has been made responsible for the security of the district courts.
Earlier, the security of the complex was the responsibility of the security wing.
However, last month, the security wing refused to continue guarding the court complex and started withdrawing its personnel from there.
The police officials said: “According to the standard operating procedure (SOP), the security wing is responsible to provide security to installations and people.”
Police stations and other investigation departments such as the CIA, CID and the investigation along with special branches are working under the operation wing.
The security wing is working with the strength of 3,806 personnel while the operation wing has 2,852 personnel, the officials said.
The response of the security wing towards the security of the courts started decreasing in 2011, the officials said.
During the last over two years, the operation wing had to reinforce the manpower in the courts by withdrawing officials from police stations.
Several reminders were sent to the security division asking it to follow the SOP but these were ignored, the officials said.
Keeping in view the prevailing security situation, a plan was prepared on February 27 to deploy 66 personnel on the court premises, including 16 officials from the security division.
The area police superintendent along with the subdivisional police officer was asked to supervise the arrangements.
However, when the terrorists attacked the court on March 3, a majority of the police personnel from the security division could not reach there as they had been assigned some other duties by their supervisory officers.
After the incident, the security division was again asked for the deployment of personnel in the courts and take the responsibility of its security but once again it refused, the officials said. In response, the security was given to the operation wing.
Under the new strategy, 174 personnel are deployed in and around the courts who are working in three shifts.