February 2, 2006	Thursday	Muharram 3, 1427

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DERA GHAZI KHAN, Feb 1: The district and border military police forces are clueless about the saboteurs who had been targeting sensitive installations and railway tracks here since February 2005.

As many as 13 incidents of blowing of railway track, gas and crude oil pipelines have taken place during the last one year.

A sense of insecurity among the people who travel by train has heightened as a result of which the number of passengers has drastically reduced.

Sources told Dawn that the passengers for Quetta were now using public transport vehicle plying on roads. According to the railway authorities, around 30,000 passengers used to travel annually from the Dera Ghazi Khan railway station for different destinations. In 2005, the railways suffered a loss of Rs833,225.

There are 250 posts of men who patrol along side the track for checking and vigilance. At present, two persons are looking after a six-kilometre portion of the track. After the filling of posts, there will be two men for two kilometres.

A railway official says the timings of trains’ crossing this section should be changed as it is unsafe to travel here in the dark. There is a need for upgrading the communication system of the railways because the DGK railway station has one-way telephone facility.

Every gangman who looks after the track should be given a cell phone or walkie-talkies to timely inform one other and the authorities concerned about any untoward incident.

The railway police had registered a case against unidentified saboteurs, who had blown up the railway track in Shadan Lond railway station jurisdiction on Jan 29, 2006 under section 7-ATA/156. It was the first blast to have taken place in the railway police precinct.

Meanwhile, closed-circuit televisions have been installed in the district to detect movement of any suspects by the district police. A special cell has been formed at the Dera Ghazi Khan range headquarters to keep an eye on any suspicious activity.

When contacted, District Police Officer Salman Chaudhry told Dawn that 12 closed-circuit televisions had been installed in the district. Another 36 gadgets would be installed in Dera Ghazi Khan city and Taunsa Sharif, which would have link with rescue 15 service.

He said the explosive detector device also would be installed at Triman (Dera Ghazi Khan’s last post at the NWFP border) and Sakhi Sarwar Sharif situated at the border of the DGK tribal area tehsil to stop arm smuggling in to the district.

He said the district police had asked the authorities at the Taunsa Barrage, Ghazi Ghat bridge and PARCO to install closed-circuit televisions to ensure protection of sensitive national assets. They have also asked the villagers on both sides of the track to be vigilant at night till the crossing of the trains.

The political assistant to tribal area told Dawn that the border alongside Balochistan had been sealed and 11 posts had been established to control infiltration of any suspects or Baloch insurgents.