The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has put security on high alert, particularly in the provincial capital, in the wake of Operation Khyber-1 official launching in Khyber Agency on Friday.
Official sources said that security forces launched the operation following recent terror attacks in the province, while a crackdown against anti-state elements in Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera is also under way. Security officials claimed to have killed at least 11 miscreants and destroyed their hideouts in the Akakhel area of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency as part of the operation.
“We have increased the number of police personnel on entry and exit check-posts along the tribal belt and we plan to impose a night-time curfew in some areas adjacent to the tribal areas so that we can stop movement of anti-state elements,” a security official said while requesting anonymity. He said that law enforcers were deployed at sensitive installations, including Bacha Khan International Airport, bus stands and railway stations.
Capital City Police Chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told The Express Tribune that Khyber-1 will impact the provincial capital as it shares a border with Khyber Agency. “People will leave their homes due to the operation and the nearest possible destination for the displaced persons would be Peshawar,” Khan said, adding that militants under the guise of displaced persons would attempt to take refuge in the provincial capital. Over 500 families have reportedly left Tirah Valley due to the operation and many are headed to Hangu district.
The CCPO also said that the boundary between the provincial capital and tribal areas could not be secured completely since the force meant to be deployed on the buffer zone had been called by the federal government and deployed in the federal capital. He said Peshawar’s police force will handle the situation as best as it can.
Officials said a search operation was under way in areas adjacent to the tribal areas but could not confirm the number of persons arrested during the operation.
Khyber-1 is not the first operation launched against anti-state elements in Khyber Agency. Sirat-e-Mustaqeem was launched on June 28, 2008 and concluded on July 9, 2009, while Operation Daraghlam (Here I Come) was launched on December 28, 2008. Subsequently operation Biya Daraghlam (Here I Come Again) was launched in September 2009. A fourth operation Khwakh Ba De Shum (I Will Teach You A Lesson) was launched in November 2009.
Officials claimed success in each operation, saying the areas had been cleared of militants. However, the increasing number of terror attacks suggests otherwise. “All previous operations were launched locally by the Frontier Corps or were on a smaller scale, which is why the area could not be fully cleared,” explained Brigadier (retd) Mehmood Shah.
“These operations were not like the ones in Malakand, Bajaur, Mohmand, South Waziristan and the one under way in North Waziristan Agency. They were limited to some areas,” he added. He said Khyber-1 is also a small-scale operation and anti-state elements will remain present unless a division or two of the armed forces is deployed to clear the area up till the Pak-Afghan border.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2014.
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