Security threat: Tribal criminals set up safe haven near ‘red zone’

Criminals from tribal areas carve out safe haven kilometre away from President’s House, Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

ISLAMABAD: Criminals from tribal areas have carved out a safe haven barely a kilometre away from the president’s House and the Prime Minister’s Secretariat near the Bari Imam shrine in the federal capital.

More than two dozen huts have been set up near the red zone where “criminals, moving between Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad”, are living without any fear of law-enforcement agencies, an official told the Express Tribune.

He said the criminals are also providing shelter to various proclaimed offenders, posing a security threat to a number of foreign embassies in the Diplomatic Enclave.

The official added that some countries had summoned their ambassadors back because of security threats a few months ago. When diplomats are forced to go back to their countries, it reflects badly on Pakistan and its government.

The official said the same criminal elements were also involved in the business of drugs and illegal arms and resort to aerial firing every evening to intimidate law-enforcement agencies.

“Police appear to be helpless against these criminals,” he said, adding the police had tried to take action against them six months ago, but failed when the criminals retaliated with sophisticated weapons. The operation was left incomplete, he added.

The source said that various authorities have submitted reports regarding the presence of criminals to the SSP Office but police have so far not taken any decisive action against them.

The official said that police check-points set up near the Bari Imam shrine and on the way to the criminals’ den are nothing more than a hindrance in the movement of the local people.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2010.