K-P IG seeks army's help to fight terror

The IG of the K-P police Zulfiqar Hameed said on Friday that army and paramilitary FC support would be sought to improve the law and order situation in the southern districts of the province, where terrorism remains a big challenge.

Talking to journalists in Peshawar, the IG said that he intended to improve the police image and restore public confidence in the law-enforcement authority. He acknowledged that terrorism was a big issue and "if the people help in controlling terrorism, it will be greatly beneficial" for the country.

"The southern districts of the province are a big problem, especially Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan," the IG told reporters. "It has been decided to seek the help of the army and the FC to improve the law and order situation in these districts. Their special teams will be deployed there," he said.

The IG acknowledged that people felt insecure because of terrorism, therefore, he added, giving them a sense of security was the most important task. "We want to restore public confidence in our police force. We want to improve the police image among the public," he said.

Responding to a question he said that the police force wanted to control terrorism but he could not say how long would it take. When pressed further on the issue, the provincial police chief replied: "The work requiring 15 years cannot be done in one year. I want to do the work that I can do."

The IG said that in his career, he had served in the three other provinces but the current assignment was his first in K-P. He admitted that many people thought that K-P was the most challenging province. "Our job is full of challenges, but the responsibility of K-P is the most challenging," he said.

Unfolding his plans for improvement in the K-P police force, he said that vacant posts would be filled and the new recruits would be provided modern equipment, including long-range sniper rifles along with training in Jhelum or Kharian.

"Our current strength is 112,000, instead of 130,000, so we will make up for this shortfall through new recruitments and promotions. We will recruit our own people and train them according to our own conditions. We will improve the conditions of police stations and outposts," he said.

He said that the salaries of the police force would be brought at par with the police forces in Punjab and Sindh. He revealed that he drew less salary as the K-P IG than what he was drawing as the Additional IG in Punjab. In this regard, he told reporters, a summary had been sent to the chief minister.

He stressed the need for increasing the Shuhada and the welfare packages of the K-P police force, which he described as the lowest among all the provinces. The martyr's package in Punjab was Rs70 million, and it was Rs10 million in K-P. He said that the chief minister had promised to double the package.

When asked about the situation in Kurram, he said that the government was implementing the 14-point agreement in the district. "The demolition of bunkers and collection of weapons is ongoing in Kurram and the roads will be opened for traffic as soon as the situation improves."