For a safer tomorrow: Home dept gears up to launch targeted operation

Security will be beefed up at sensitive locations such as Peshawar jail, airport.

PESHAWAR:

As the death tolls keep rising due to extortion, target killings and blasts, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s home department has decided to launch a targeted operation in the province – with strategic focus on Peshawar.

Sources within the K-P Home and Tribal Affairs department said the ministry had issued orders for a targeted operation based on investigations carried out after several terror attack attempts and kidnapping for ransom cases in the last couple of years.

“The home department has asked officials to review past investigation reports, collect evidence and focus on the outcome,” said an official who did not wish to be named.



The ministry also issued directions to beef up the security at sensitive locations, including Central Prison Peshawar and Bacha Khan International Airport. The official added that the provincial capital had been divided into five zones for the operation.

Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, told The Express Tribune the decision to launch the province-wide operation at the same time as Peshawar was taken after viewing previous terror attacks.

Shah said they were focusing on kidnapping for ransom incidents, and the operation would be launched once the investigation was reviewed. Law enforcement agencies have been asked to finish their work with Afghan refugees residing without proper documentation as soon as possible.

“We are all prepared but cannot disclose the exact date of when this will happen,” he said, refusing to share any further details about the operation due to its sensitive nature. He added that records of proclaimed offenders were also under review.



Keeping in mind the law and order situation of the province and its capital, where two blasts have taken place within a week of each other with more than 15 dead, law enforcement agencies have been ordered to take action against anti-state elements. Currently there is an operation going on against unregistered motorcycles. So far, the police have impounded more than a hundred vehicles.

In 2013, there were approximately 437 terrorist attacks all over the province with more than 693 casualties, according to the police. A total of 1,584 people were injured in these attacks. Peshawar was the worst hit with the highest number of attacks in which 256 civilians, 53 policemen, eight men from the Frontier Constabulary and 15 men from the army lost their lives. According to the police department’s figures, the toll went up in 2013 as compared to data in 2012 where around 512 people, including 96 policemen, were killed and 1,074 were injured.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2014.