Security measures enhanced in Bhakkar

Police arrest 42 suspects in various areas of district

BHAKKAR:

The district has been put on a high security alert to ensure that no untoward incident takes place during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s long march.

Police conducted a pre-emptive operation and arrested 42 suspects.

The suspects were arrested in the jurisdictions of 12 different police stations.

The district police also seized four rifles, three pistols and a huge quantity of drugs during the operation.

Apart from the police force, personnel from the CTD and other law-enforcement agencies also participated in the operation.

Security has been enhanced at the inter-provincial entrance checkpoints.

Every person and vehicle entering the Punjab province is being subjected to a comprehensive search process.

Additional number of security personnel have been assigned to monitoring the river channels.

District Police Officer Captain (Retd.) Mohammad Ajmal, who led the grand search operation, told The Express Tribune that in light of the orders of the IGP of Punjab, Faisal Shahkar, and the instructions by the Regional Police Officer of Sargodha Division, Mohammad Azhar Akram, a grand search operation was conducted in the sensitive areas of the Punjab province to ensure safety of the participants of the PTI's long march.

The operation was carried out in the areas of the boundary connecting the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Extraordinary security arrangements have also been made at river crossing points, where river police officers and Jawans have been ordered to be present at their checkpoints round the clock.

Traffic through the river is also being continuously monitored. A proper record of every person coming into and going out of the province is being prepared so that no miscreant could succeed in their nefarious purposes.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had kicked off his party’s long march from Lahore to Islamabad on Friday, telling supporters that his march was not for politics but for “Haqeeqi Azadi” of Pakistan.

The march had set off from the Liberty Chowk. Imran had reached the starting point of the long march by a container along with other senior party leaders.

A large number of PTI workers from Lahore and other parts of the country had started gathering at the venue in the morning. The charged crowd welcomed their leader with loud sloganeering when he reached there. Addressing the supporters, the PTI chairman said that the only objective and demand of the long march was free and fair elections in the country, which would guarantee true independence in Pakistan.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2022.