Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has issued a policy statement on the Karachi Police Office attack on February 17. He spoke on the floor of the Sindh Assembly to disclose some details of the investigations made so far and unveil the post-attack security plan being enforced in the city.

Attack on KPO: official details

• 3 terrorists wearing suicide jackets drove through Police quarters in a 1995 model car, scaled the compound wall, and entered the four-storey KPO at around 7:10 pm on February 17, 2023

• When the terrorists cut the barbed wire, Constable Abbas Leghari confronted them and was killed. The question is where the other policemen were when they were cutting the [barbed] wires, the CM said

• The terrorists opened indiscriminate fire with the objective to take as many police staff hostage as possible

• A Rangers Brigadier along with a squad of six to seven Rangers returning from somewhere rushed to the KPO and participated in the operation

• The DIG South and other police officers of the CTD and Special Branch (even though they were not posted to the area) reached the spot and properly led the operation

• Additional IG Karachi Javed Odho was in Islamabad, but he was in touch with his DIGs and the IG Police.

• Pak Army snipers were deployed on the rooftops of nearby buildings and a plan was discussed to use Navy night-sighting helicopters but the police and Rangers killed two terrorists and the third one killed himself on the third floor

• Rangers SI Taimur Shahzad of Shujabad, Multan, Police Constable Latif of Shikarpur, Head Constable Ghulam Abbas of Larkana, Constable Saeed of Orangi Town and Sanitary Worker Ajmal Masih of Faisalabad were killed. Eighteen policemen and a Rangers and one civilian were injured

• The terrorists were from North Waziristan and Lakki Marwat and had traveled with suicide jackets and weapons to reached Karachi

• The 1995 model car they used was plying on a transfer letter though it was sold to a fourth owner no one bothered to transfer it in his name.

• The TTP has claimed responsibility for the attack. An FIR No. 20/2023 has been registered

Decisions taken

The Sindh government is going to be making some changes:

• It will impound vehicles plying on “open letter”. The Excise department with the support of law enforcement agencies will start road checking

• Motorists will be guided to come to a halt if and when an attack or incident is taking place on or close to the road they are using. (When the KPO was under attack Shahrah-e-Faisal was closed but even then, motorists were trying to use it)

• When KPO was attacked, welfare organizations, particularly ambulances, rushed to the spot without considering the level of the attack. As a result, the first injured people turned out to be the ambulance crew

• The same thing happened to the media that started reporting from the spot where all the lights, including the streetlights, were switched off and there was live firing. The media started speculating

• Welfare organizations and the media would be given SOPs to cover such events.

• No security guards in plainclothes will be allowed to carry weapons in vehicles. Not only will vehicles be impounded but the guards will be arrested

• A security audit of strategic institutions will be carried out