GILGIT: Initial investigations into the jailbreak in Gilgit have revealed that the inmates had carried out the daring act with help from the prison`s security staff.
Danyor Station House Officer Ghulaam Muhammad and one of the runaway prisoners were injured after police encircled them in Minwar town, 13km from the jail, but the fugitives still managed to escape.
Gilgit-Baltistan police chief Zaffar Iqbal Awan told Dawn that police and other security forces had launched a search operation on Fridayevening after receiving an intelligence tip and a clash took place in a hilly area near Minwar.
He said police had sealed off roads near a river, but the besieged prisoners jumped into a ditch and escaped.
He said the SHO and one of the fugitives were injured in the encounter.
The official said police had found some drugs, dates and other items left by the fleeing prisoners.
He said the search operation had been extended to Padi, Thalichi and areas bordering Diamer district.
Mr Awan said police were checking medical stores and private hospitals in the area to trace the injured prisoner.
He conceded that the jailbreak attempt by four prisoners had been assisted by some members of the security staff within the prison, but said an investigation was under way.
He said seven jail staff personnel and three religious leadershadbeen arrested.
Gilgit cantonment police registered a case against Tanzeem Alfaroqia leaders Mir Baz, Jamshid and Inaam and Gilgit Jail wardens Akbar Zaman and Musa Alam, head constable Saifuddin, dispenser Aziz, constable Mohammad Afzal and Frontier Constabulary`s constable Arif and obtained their physical remand for seven days from an anti-terrorism court.
According to initial police investigation, the prisoners in the jail, included four men involved in the killings near Nanga Parbat of foreign tourists and their guide and two in the assassination of SSP Hilal Khan and two army of ficers in Diamer. Hazrat Bilal, Dilbar Khan, Liaqat and Habibul Rahman of Diamer were kept in barrack-6. They made a plan to flee with the help of some members of the security staff. The investigation also revealed that pistols had been provided to the prisoners from within the jail. http://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=01_03_2015_001_003
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