Safe passage: Additional check posts to be set up along Karakoram Highway

Police seize military uniforms from a suspect in Diamer valley.

GILGIT:

The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government has decided to set up 17 more check posts on the strategic Karakoram Highway (KKH), which links the region to the rest of the country along with China.

The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting held in Gilgit under the chair of G-B Chief Minister Mehdi Ali Shah. “The purpose of erecting more check posts on the highway is to ensure a safe journey for commuters,” spokesperson for the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Sajjadul Haq said on Wednesday.



Over three dozen check posts manned by police and Frontier Constabulary personnel already dot the highway from Gilgit to Besham. However, two separate terror attacks on the route last year claimed the lives of at least 30 passengers.

The importance of the highway has been compounded by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent agreements with the Chinese government regarding a railway route passing through G-B.

The cabinet meeting held on Tuesday night also condemned Sunday’s attack on All Saints’ Church in Peshawar and offered condolences to the family of Major General Sanaullah Khan Niazi and two other military officials slain by terrorists in Upper Dir on September 15.



Home Secretary Attaur Rahman and inspector general of police (IGP) briefed the cabinet about the arrests of suspects following the murder of security officials probing the massacre of 10 foreign tourists at a base camp of Nanga Parbat in June. Participants were told the arrest of the suspected mastermind of the attack on investigators led to clues about the perpetrators of other attacks as well.

Military uniforms recovered

The police have recovered military uniforms and a mobile phone from a house in Diamer valley’s Niyat village.

The uniforms were recovered following information divulged by key suspects arrested in connection with the murder of security officials in Chilas town, headquarters of Diamer valley, said a police official requesting anonymity.

“A man has been taken into custody while 10 army uniforms and a mobile set have been seized,” said the official, speculating the cell phone might belong to a foreigner.

The gunmen who stormed the Nanga Parbat base camp and shot down 10 foreign trekkers and their Pakistani guide were reportedly wearing uniforms of the Gilgit Scouts.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2013.