IBOs in Punjab: Raids continue on hideouts of terrorists

Rangers personnel take part in joint operation against criminal gang in Rajanpur district

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD:

Paramilitary Rangers soldiers played a role in the ongoing operation against a criminal gang in Punjab’s Rajanpur district on Sunday as security forces continued their intelligence based operations (IBOs) against terrorists and their facilitators across Punjab.

According to sources, Rangers, police, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and intelligence agencies are taking part in these operations, which were started on the order of army chief General Raheel Sharif following a suicide attack in a Lahore park which claimed more than 72 lives on March 27. Some 320 intelligence-based operations were conducted in the week that followed the attack.





Meanwhile, the Punjab police and the CTD have also carried out around 360 and 80 search operations, respectively. During these operations, around 29,000 persons were questioned and 850 suspects were rounded up. There are reports that the ongoing IBOs were undertaken without the government’s permission and there is a row between the government and the military establishment over requisitioning Rangers in Punjab.



However, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday said he was taken onboard prior to the start of the IBOs and his permission was sought. “I was taken on board at 1:30am to 2am at night regarding the IBOs. I will explain the context at the next gathering,” Nisar said in reply to a query during a news briefing.

Responding to a question about the Rangers led operation in Punjab, the country’s security czar had said Rangers were already present in the province and were conducting operations based on intelligence reports.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th,  2016.