Capital under threat?: IG directed to devise concrete security plans

Mobile services to stay on; potential terrorists’ entry points being combed by joint commando teams.

ISLAMABAD:

With high security visible around the capital, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan chaired a meeting of senior police officers in Islamabad on Monday amid continuing reports of a terrorist threat.

Sourced told The Express Tribune that intelligence reports have indicated a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) plan to attack sensitive installations in the capital.

TTP militants who escaped during the July 31 Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak might target government buildings along Constitution Avenue.

Parliament House, the Naval Complex, Air Headquarters and embassies could also be their potential targets, sources said.

On Sunday, 30 joint teams of police, navy and air force commandoes were deployed in the Margalla Hills after conducting a search operation for suspected militants in and around the hills.

In 2012, intelligence reports had emerged that terrorists could use at least three unprotected passages in the Margalla Hills to enter Islamabad from Khanpur in Haripur district. Sources said these are the very routes that the joint teams combed on Sunday.



Security has also been beefed up around the Diplomatic Enclave and Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

During the Monday meeting, Khan ordered the police to remain vigilant and formulate a coherent security plan. He said the Interior Ministry will equip Islamabad Police with modern weapons and provide the force with logistic support and funds.

He also directed Islamabad IGP Sikander Hayat to establish a central command system in Islamabad for integrated communications on priority basis.

Eid security

In contrast to his predecessor Rehman Malik, Khan has no plans to block cell phone services during Eid.

Instead, “the police should improve the overall security arrangements in the capital using effective policing”, he said.

The IGP was directed to come up with a concrete strategy to deal with mushrooming slum dwellings in Bari Imam near the Diplomatic Enclave and in sectors I-11 and G-12.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2013.