Nato supply route: Peshawar police devise 14-point security plan

Supply trucks will be scanned at Attock and will travel non-stop to Torkham border crossing.

PESHAWAR:

The city police have devised a 14-point security plan for oil tankers and container trucks carrying supplies for US-led Nato forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had asked for an elaborate security plan following a three-day closure of the Torkham border crossing over security concerns.

The 14-point plan calls for winding up all Nato terminals from Peshawar and its outskirts, according to a police official.

“We have suggested that the government ensure not a single Nato container is parked in or outside the city,” the official added. “We also suggested that Nato trucks and oil tankers drive non-stop from Attock to the Torkham border crossing.”

The police have asked for sniffer dogs, jammer vehicles and a 20-member bomb disposal squad.

Nato vehicles will be scanned at Attock and then they will be cleared for their onward journey to the Torkham border in convoys. One jammer-installed vehicle would accompany each convoy.

“Each convoy will comprise 10 vehicles – not more than that,” the official said. “A member of the bomb disposal squad will also travel with each convoy to find and defuse any explosive device en route.”

The police have also suggested to the government to increase the number of check-pots of paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) on the route.

“More check-posts will minimise the threat to Nato vehicles. We have also suggested that the government monitor the profile of every driver of the vehicle.”

The police will submit the document of security plan to the government on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2012.