On the frontline: Threat of terror attacks looms over multiple districts

IGP Durrani shares militancy has claimed 79 police lives in last six months.

PESHAWAR:

Bannu, Kohat, Peshawar, Swabi and Mardan could face terrorist attacks; the police is now on high alert, said IGP Nasir Khan Durrani.

He was addressing a press briefing at the Central Police Office (CPO) on Tuesday. According to a handout issued from the CPO following the conference, the IGP shared K-P’s police has lost 79 personnel to terrorism in just the last six months and remains to be the most vulnerable target due to the nature of its duty.

K-P has been the main target of militants for a number of reasons and has seen hundreds of civilians and security personnel casualties, he added. Yet, the police is making all efforts to prevent and detect incidents of terrorism despite the risks it faces, shared IGP Durrani.

According to the handout, the police department has been successful in retaliating to and foiling at least 57 terrorist attacks. The bomb disposal unit (BDU) had defused 282 improvised explosive devices (IED) in the last six months.

“Notwithstanding the loss of four of its people while defusing explosive devices, the BDS continues to perform its duties in a courageous manner,” added the handout.



The document shared the K-P police investigation wing has shown a considerable improvement in its performance in the last four months. “Since October 2013, the police has traced 129 cases of terrorism in which 144 terrorists were arrested and 25 were killed in encounters.”

The police department is making the necessary efforts to get the remaining accomplices of apprehended militants declared as proclaimed offenders. The department has also decided to request the provincial government to fix bounties on these offenders.

“In most cases of terrorism, the militants had links with different agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, while in some cases they were Afghan nationals who had obtained Pakistani CNICs fraudulently,” added the statement.

The IGP’s statement identified the major militant groups involved in terrorism across the province as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Tehreek-e-Taliban Mohmand, Tehreek-e-Taliban Swat, TTP Tariq Group, TTP Jangrez Group, TTP Gandapur Group, TTP Faiq Group, TTP Qari Aqeel Group, Laskhar-e-Islam and Emarat-e-Islamia Group.

Some welcome headway

The IGP also shared some prominent cases the K-P police had successfully traced and solved. These included the car bomb blast in Qissa Khwani Bazaar on September 29, the blast in a Peshawar Secretariat bus on September 27 and the multiple grenade attack at Shama Cinema on February 11.

IGP Durrani also listed several attacks on police check posts and officials which the department claims to have solved, shared the handout.

“The threat of terrorism prevails in several districts of K-P. NADRA will screen the recent influx of internally displaced people shifting to the settled areas,” said Durrani at the briefing. “We need to fight terrorism in an organised manner.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2014.