PESHAWAR: The recent militant attack on a PIA flight on the outskirts of the provincial capital has added a new responsibility to the already overburdened Peshawar police: they have to keep a close eye on the movement of suspected persons and ensure that the area is clear for VIP movement.

The city’s suburban area usually remain under the influence of anti-social and anti-state elements, where the police have to carry out operations from time to time to maintain the law and order situation.

However, the situation worsened when militants targeted a PIA plane on June 24 shortly before its landing at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport killing one passenger woman and injuring two crew members.

A police official said since the plane was targeted, thousands of personnel of police, Pakistan Army and Frontier Constabulary had been deployed at the strategic spots of the airport to help investigation into the attack and arrest attackers or those having information about them.

He said the plane attack, perhaps the first reaction of the military operation against terrorists in North Waziristan, prompted law-enforcement agencies to carry out a full-fledged search operation, which led to the arrest of many wanted men.

The attack is an eye-opener for the relevant departments, which should re-devise security plan to prevent possible terrorist activities in future, he said.

The official said threats to the aircraft had been there since 2019 when the militancy was on peak and terrorists carried out activities in Peshawar on daily basis and that was why the captains had to take extra care during the landing and takeoff like turning plane lights off while passing through the tribal region.

According to him, the other problem faced by the aircraft at Bacha Khan International Airport is the absence of runway lights on the northern side to guide planes while landing and therefore, they have to slow down speed before landing through southern parts of Peshawar.

The city’s southern areas, the official said, are close to the tribal region and therefore, movement of suspected militants in the suburban villages is not new as they escape to their dens in tribal areas after carrying out activities.

On the other hand, several police official posted to the suburban areas insisted the misery of the police had increased manifold, especially when they neither have proper safety equipment and weapons nor have they proper data about the residents.

“We haven’t thought about the plane attack as we usually see the coming down of the planes as they get close to the airport and everybody wish they land safely,” a senor police official said.

He said the attack also brought misery to the police, who wished to spend the month of Ramazan peacefully but the department tasked them with a new duty of collecting data of the people living on the outskirts of the provincial capital at the earliest.“We are not given any additional allowance for conducting the survey and have been ordered to submit the reports within three days at all costs,” he said.

However, Peshawar SSP (operations) Najeebur Rehman Bugvi told this correspondent that the survey had already been initiated when the government had passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hotel Restriction (security) Ordinance 2014 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rent Restriction (security) Ordinance 2014 to ensure the checking of suspected persons but the current data was collected on war footing.

“We have involved around 1,000 personnel in the process to collect the data. We have completed the process in several villages including Ahmedkhel, Bazidkhel, Balarzai, Sulemankhel, Mashokhel, Faqirabad, Anizai, Sheikh Mohammadi, Gaga Wala, Masho PK, Mushtarzai, Shahabkhel, Panjkatta, Akhun Baba, Landi Akhun Ahmad, Pishtakhara Payan, Garhi Sikandar Khan, Nothia Payan, Shaheedabad, Umeedabad, Sufaid Dheri, Abdara, Nothia Bala, Pawaka, Academy Town, Menawa, Shinwari Qala, Pishtakhara Bala, Sarband, Sango, Sango Bala, Achini Payan, Achini Bala and Achi Mera.

He said in line with the instructions of IGP Nasir Khan Durrani, the Peshawar police began regular patrols on the city’s outskirts even at nighttime and they sometimes had to face encounters.

“We have been visiting different areas, conducting raids, checking vehicles and making the locals feel that the police can reach any area anytime in case an incident happens,” he said.

Bugvi said during the operation, the police had arrested many people for terrorist acts and that they all were questioned about the plane attack. The SSP said collection of data was not very easy but the police were doing it excellently for future plans.

He said in view of the increasing population and movement of Afghan nationals and internally displaced persons, there was a need to double the number of policemen in Peshawar or at least increase it from 8,500 to 12,000.

Bugvi said bulletproof jackets were very heavy and policemen couldn’t run carrying them in case of emergency. He suggested such jackets should weigh not more than four kilogrammes and that they should preferably be made in the US.

The SSP also called for provision of bulletproof helmets to policemen and increase in the number of armoured personnel carriers, especially for nighttime patrols.

About the growing incidents of bomb blasts and targeted attacks, he said the main problem had been created by the sale of explosives through irregular methods.

He said there was no monitoring of the sale, movement and use of explosives.

“Apparently, explosives are traded for match factories, crackers and mines but no body has ever bothered to monitor the entire exercise so that its illegal use could be checked.

He said if the sale of explosives and issuance of licences for explosives, arms and ammunitions were controlled in consultation with the police, then the blasts could be controlled to a great extent. Bugvi appreciated the government for ‘keen interest’ in legislation on terrorism and said there should be a law to regulate use of explosives so that such stuff didn’t reach anti-state and anti-social elements.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2014