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GHQ attackers demanded release of 100 terrorists: ISPR DG

* Raid aimed to seize officers to press for demands
* Joint Court of Inquiry will investigate GHQ attack
* Waziristan operation a matter of appropriate timing

By Sajjad Malik

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban gunmen who took 42 people hostage at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on Saturday were demanding the release of about 100 terrorists, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Major General Athar Abbas said on Monday.

“Their target was to take senior officers of the GHQ hostage and make demands,” he told journalists. “The main demand was the release of terrorists including high-profile ones. It included over 100 names, from all the groups, all the terrorists across the board,” he added.

Earlier on Monday, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the raid. Abbas said the terrorists had planned the assault in South Waziristan. “The main training area for this operation was in South Waziristan,” he said, adding that intelligence agencies had intercepted Taliban leader Waliur Rehman’s telephone conversations in this regard.

Appropriate timing: To questions on an all-out military offensive in Waziristan, Abbas said: “They (government and military) have taken a principled decision that there will be an operation in this area. It is now a matter of military judgement, what is the appropriate timing in the best national interests,” he said. The ISPR DG said a Joint Court of Inquiry would be established to investigate the terrorist attack and find the real culprits and their motives. It would include all the security agencies of the country, he added.

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