Improving law and order?: K-P sees nearly 7% decrease in terrorism incidents than 2013

CTD DIG says police efforts and military operation in tribal areas contributing factors.

PESHAWAR:

Militant attacks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have decreased by nearly 7% in 2014 as compared to last year, however, cases of target killings and extortion have risen, states a report presented to IGP Nasir Khan Duranni.

According to the report which was discussed at a law and order review meeting, 468 terrorism incidents were reported in K-P in 2013 while this year the number of attacks has reduced to 438 reported so far.

There has been a substantial decrease in instances of improvised explosive device (IED) blasts, vehicle-borne (VB) IED attacks and suicide attacks this year  25%, 50% and 45%, respectively.

The number of IED blasts declined to 218 from 284, VBIEDs to three from six and suicide attacks to 10 from 18 last year. Similarly, rockets attacks reduced by 30%; last year there were 20 rocket attacks, this year the figure dropped to 14.

However, the report identifies a significant increase in instances of target killings since 2013. According to the document, 131 cases of targeted attacks on individuals were reported this year as compared to 113 in the previous year. “Mostly policemen were targeted in such incidents.”

Moreover, during the current year, there has been a significant decrease in civilian and law-enforcement personnel casualties which have come down to 286 from 621 in the previous year, states the report claiming this is the lowest casualty count since 2008.

Tracking the   improvement

The meeting’s participants were informed that modern investigation techniques have helped improve the department’s performance.

In 2014, the K-P police was able to successfully repulse 103 terrorist attacks, defuse 316 suicide jackets and IEDs and arrest 174 terrorists, according to the review report.

Similarly, 26 militants were killed during encounters with police and convictions were secured for 27 others. The police was able to keep kidnappings for ransom under check and only 93 such cases were reported this year, the same as last year.

The investigation wing showed considerable improvement as it was able to arrest 193 kidnappers and rescue 80 abductees during the current year, while a slight decrease was also observed in the instances of theft, robberies and car theft.



A considerable increase was observed in reported cases of extortion. A total of 285 cases were registered in the province during the current year.

Addressing the meetings participants, IGP Durrani said extortion is a major issue for the province and the police have established specialised cellular forensic cells in each divisional headquarters to enable investigation officers to nab the culprits. According to the report, K-P police solved 154 cases of extortion and arrested 287 extortionists.

A helping hand

Counter Terrorism Department DIG Muhammad Alam Shinwari told The Express Tribune several factors led to a reduction in terrorism incidents ranging from police efforts to the destruction of militant
bases in the tribal areas during Operation Zarb-e-Azb and Khyber-1.

“The police have launched a crackdown against militant operatives in the settled districts, but these people were mainly operating from their bases in Fata which were dismantled in the operations,” he said.

Shinwari added the military offensives should continue till militants are eliminated completely, “If the job is left unfinished, they can stage a comeback.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2014.