No margin for error: Extra police force of 1,400 to protect the city

PESHAWAR:

Around 1,200 extra policemen have been deployed to protect about 245 mosques and imambargahs in Peshawar during Ramazan, in addition to a deployment of 200 policemen to protect marketplaces in the district.

“This force comes in addition to the local police whose primary responsibility is to keep law and order in check,” said SSP Operations Najeebur Rehman Bagvi, adding that they had received intelligence reports that mosques and marketplaces in the cantonment and city circles were sensitive. “In rural Peshawar, there has already been a heavy deployment of police in markets and on main roads.”

There are more than 45 check points in Peshawar district along the main entry and exit points to the city. Speaking of the recent attack in Chamkani that left two policemen and one attacker dead, he said a brief period of comparative peace does not mean that terrorism is over.

“Terrorism is based on ideological grounds and there are many factors involved. It is a divide made worse by factors like population explosion and lack of urban planning and it will take time to overcome these issues and bridge this divide,” said the SSP.

“We arrested a boy who was involved in the deadly cinema attacks earlier this year,” recalled Bagvi. “He told us he was a resident of Tirah Valley living in Riaz Garhi. The boy spoke to us about his family and how his father had mistreated all his siblings.”

Bagvi explained how the child came to visit Speen Qabar, Bara where he met a cleric who asked him to join the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and, eventually, to conduct a suicide attack.

“His friend and him were going to be used as suicide bombers,” said Bagvi, adding that poverty is one of the major reasons why youngsters are forced to join militant ranks.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2014.