Police pass the buck as panel probes Pindi fiasco

RAWALPINDI: Senior police officers in Rawalpindi have started shifting the responsibly of Rawalpindi fiasco, which saw 10 people killed a mosque, a number of shops torched on last Friday, to each other. Zaeem Iqbal Sheikh, former Regional Police Officer of Rawalpindi, told a fact finding committee that SSP Operations and other officers had not played their role in controlling the situation. He said that he had gone to Attock District through a helicopter after receiving information about the presence of a notorious terrorist. The former RPO said that he was not informed about the incident though wireless and came to know about the incident around 3:50. He said he took his time to reach Rawalpindi as helicopter was not in a position to fly forthwith. Sheikh said that he reached Rawalpindi around 5:30 and rushed to the venue of the incident with some officers. He said that most of the officers fled the scene after rioters resorted to firing and he was sheltered by juniors officers, who took him to a narrow street. He said that he had not put any restrictions on police officers and they should be interrogated for their failure to act timely.