Will public mobilisation initiative to curb militancy materialise? Will the Frontier police’ initiative to mobilise the public in different districts of the province to help curb militancy and to boost the lowering morale of the security personnel materialise? Though the initiative has been termed as a good omen aimed at creating awareness among the communities against the activities of the anti-state and anti-social elements, who have been carrying out sabotage activities and playing with the lives and properties of the innocent people. But it has challenges of credibility and durability. As usually happens here, the government took the decision too late after the security agencies had lost so much of their men and material at the hands of the terrorists, who also got strong footing in the residential areas. So much so that the miscreants are now freely disrupting the peaceful atmosphere of the provincial capital and have initiated their nefarious activities in the suburban areas of the metropolis. The recent operation in Mathni area of the Frontier Region (FR) of Kohat was long-awaited as the criminals had made lives of the people there miserable. The Kohat-Peshawar Road, which is extremely important artery for the entire country, has never been a peaceful route for travel, as the commuters suffered a lot on account of robberies in the areas closer or away from the Peshawar city. According to independent sources the number of Taliban in Badbher and Mathni areas was believed to be around thirty and majority of them had surrendered to the police and sworn in on the holy Quran that they would abide by the country’s law and would never resort to any unlawful activity. But the criminal activities there showed that they might be in hundreds. It is disheartening that the residents of these areas have not been forthcoming as far as their cooperation with the police to eliminate the criminals is concerned. But the law-enforcement agencies are also not coming forward to seek public support against the outlaws. There are many reasons why the people are not giving a helping hand to the police as they allege that the increase in criminal activities is due to the police’s tacit support to the criminal gangs. They blame the police for using the criminals for personnel gains and making the innocent citizens the ultimate target. According to residents, there are some ‘black sheep’ in the police force who are defaming the entire force for their vested interests. It was reported that in the recent search operation in Mathni area, some police officials had informed the miscreants about the impending operation and in fact helped them shift to safer places. This close ‘liaison’ between some police officials and criminals have also resulted into outlaws now targeting the police, much to the surprise of the former. It is a fact that criminals’ strong foothold in peaceful areas was not an overnight affair but it took time and advantage of the negligence of the security agencies. With the arrest of some suspected militants in Mathni the officials of the law-enforcement agencies must not be complacent, and should strengthen themselves by mustering public support and focusing on the monitoring and intelligence services to check movement of the criminals. Peshawar, being the capital city, is geographically surrounded by tribal agencies where the criminals have been freely carrying out their activities and can easily enter the city with an ulterior motive. The political administrations of the tribal regions have almost failed to keep an effective vigilance on the movement of the suspected militants, which is also a reason that police are unable to muster public support against the outlaws. The police officials must keep in mind that before launching any operation in Mathra and Nasir Bagh areas, where criminals have also stepped up their activities, they have to take the locals into confidence to make the offensive a success. The police will also have to take care in distributing weapons among the community people. There are reports that some influentials have links both with the police and the outlaws. For availing the support of the public against the miscreants the police will also have to keep secret names of all those who provide them information about the hideouts and dens of the criminals. Meanwhile, the top most priority of the security agencies should be securing the highways to check movement of the criminals, illegal weapons and explosives. Because the commuters have been robbed of millions of rupees even at the Motorways but the police have failed to find any clue to the robbers.
Will the Frontier police’ initiative to mobilise the public in different districts of the province to help curb militancy and to boost the lowering morale of the security personnel materialise? Though the initiative has been termed as a good omen aimed at creating awareness among the communities against the activities of the anti-state and anti-social elements, who have been carrying out sabotage activities and playing with the lives and properties of the innocent people. But it has challenges of credibility and durability.
