Armed and ready: Prepared to take action if peace deal derails, says K-P IG

Highlights three security threats in province - militancy, kidnapping and extortion.

PESHAWAR:

The police force of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) is ready to respond to any security threat in case peace negotiations with the Taliban fail, said K-P Inspector General Police (IGP), Nasir Durrani, on Thursday.

In an interview with The Express News, the K-P IGP said that the police force in the province possessed the capabilities to spring to action if needed and face any sudden blowback if peace talks were to fail.



Government negotiators and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) agreed to continue talks after the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides was held in a remote tribal area on Wednesday.

Highlighting K-P’s security concerns compared to the rest of the country, Durrani said that his police force knew how to tackle militancy and ensure the safety of its people. K-P is different from the rest of the country when it comes to law and order, he said.

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According to the police chief, the province faced three major security threats - militancy, kidnapping for ransom and extortion, adding that police were trying to address all of them.

“These three issues are interlinked,” he explained.

In 2013, around 140 people were reportedly abducted from the province. While talking to The Express Tribune earlier this week, another police official said the number of kidnappings were actually higher than those reported. Most people, he added, did not want to talk to the police or register an FIR out of fear that seeking help from law enforcement officials might harm the victim. Similarly, police records also reflect around 60 cases of extortion in K-P for 2013 - with Peshawar topping the list of incidents. The city’s extortion cases are believed to be several times higher than those actually reported.

While talking about K-P police efforts in tackling the law and order situation, Durrani said that officials had arrested 150 militants and were working on 129 cases of militancy, adding that 39 different militant groups were operating in the province. The names of nine militant groups had been forwarded to the federal government, reflecting the bounties placed on the arrests of their respective leaders.

With regards to K-P’s first drone strike in Hangu, the IGP explained that the case registered against the United States government was still open.

“It’s an important case, not against a person, but an entire government,” he said, adding that witnesses of the attack still had to testify during the case hearing. Police has sent questions to the foreign office and is waiting for their answers.

Proposing a joint force between police and law enforcement agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the IGP said the groups should work together to rid the region of militancy and restore peace in the province, adding that where necessary, police would form armed committees.

Durrani also said that they had sent applications to the government to recruit youth from Fata and include these officers in K-P’s police force to better tackle security issues that plague both areas collectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2014.