July 05, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 1, 1429

PESHAWAR, July 4: Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Malik Naveed on Friday said that the ongoing operation in the provincial capital could be extended to other settled areas of the NWFP.

“Operations would be launched when and wherever the government felt necessary,” he said while talking to the media, after attending a high-level meeting on law and order situation, here at the Police Lines. The IGP said that about 150 criminals had been arrested since the operation was launched in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. After taking the recent security measures, Peshawar was made fully secure and there was no threat to the lives and properties of residents from militant groups, he added.

He said that Section-144 was imposed in Peshawar due to security threats, saying that pillion riding was banned as militants usually used motorcycles for criminal activities.

The government, he said, had assured to equip the Frontier police with all basic gadgets and sophisticated weapons in order to face challenges. He said a summary for the increase in salaries of policemen had been put up to the concerned quarters and the government had assured to meet requirements in this regard.

Earlier, while briefing the participants of the high-level meeting about the working of the police force with special reference to its achievements as well as its future requirements, the IGP said that quite a visible progress had been achieved in the efforts to strengthen and equip the police with latest gadgets in all respects. Apart from steps underway at provincial level, he said, 10,000 new jawans (policemen) were expected to be inducted in the force under the prime minister’s package. The 25th batch, comprising 200 policemen has already passed out in this respect, he added.

Apart from ensuring round-the-clock vigilance through police mobile teams specially in the provincial metropolitan, the IGP said, new police stations and posts were also being established in different parts of the province and special measure were underway to ensure their timely completion. Besides, the syllabus of the police training institutions was also being developed further by incorporating new concepts which also included juvenile justice system, he added.

Simultaneously, the IGP said, “necessary initiatives are also underway to ensure wellbeing of the serving policemen as well as families of those who had embraced martyrdom”.

In this connection, he particularly mentioned the allotment of 440 plots to the heirs of deceased policemen and said that employment would be provided to the sons of these police officials.

He also briefed the governor NWFP about the future strategy to maintain law and order in the province.

PILLION RIDDING: Despite the ban, pillion ridding is going unchecked in Peshawar. The ban was imposed by the Capital City Police Officer on June 3 in order to minimise the chances of acts of terrorism, but it seems that the police did not bother to challan those violating the rule.

An official at the control room of the traffic police, when contacted, said that no one had been fined for pillion riding so far. A spokesman for the city police, however, said that during a campaign, 386 vehicles were challaned for having tinted-glasses and 240 were fined for displaying ‘applied for’ number plates.

Similarly, 56 taxis were fined for having no route permits and had shifted the vehicles from other districts to Peshawar. He said during raids in different areas, 29 suspected criminals were arrested and heavy weapons were recovered from their possession including 20 Kalashnikovs, 25 shotguns and 86 pistols.

He claimed that three proclaimed offenders were also arrested during the raids in the jurisdiction of Regi and Nasir Bagh police stations. The accused were identified as Zafar Khan, Momin Khan and Aqal Khan.