A massive search operation is underway to re-arrest two convicts who managed to escape by breaking a police cordon after fleeing the district jail Gilgit early Friday.
The escapees managed to escape the police barrier in Snichar’s Shab Minawar area after a crossfire exchange with local police during which a station house officer (SHO) was injured.
One of the escaped prisoners is believed to be involved in the Nanga Parbat massacre case in which 10 foreign climbers and a Pakistani were killed.
SHO Jatial police Abdul Hadi told the media that a search operation in the district was being carried out under SSP Gilgit Ishaq’s leadership.
He said that Snichar’s Shab police was alerted about the fugitives hiding in Minawar, a town on the outskirts of Gilgit. Upon receiving this information, a police party reached Dinapur where an exchange of fire took place with the inmates.
The SHO further divulged that he was shot in his arm during the crossfire, while the inmates managed to flee the police cordon along a lake’s edge, taking advantage of the dark.
A total of four inmates had attempted to flee the district jail early Friday although only two managed to escape successfully. One of the inmates was shot dead during the escape attempt while another was wounded and rearrested.
Inspector General of Police Zafar Iqbal Awan had suspended three officials, including the jail warden, over the incident.
The slain inmate Hazrat Bilal and escapee Habibur Rehman were convicted in the Nanga Parbat massacre case.
A reward of Rs2million was also announced by Gilgit Baltistan (GB) Home Secretary Sibtain Ahmed for people who help the authorities in capturing Habibur Rehman.
Ten foreign climbers and a Pakistani guide and cook were killed as gunmen wearing the uniform of paramilitary Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts had stormed into the base camp of Nanga Parbat, one of the world’s highest mountains, in the scenic Himalayan valley of Bunar Das in Gilgit-Baltistan on Jun 22, 2013.
The attack was claimed separately by proscribed terror outfits Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jundullah.
