The recent suicide bombing of a convoy of Frontier Corps on the busy Sher Shah Soori Road has given the lie to the government’s claim that first, the terrorists’ network has been destroyed in the country and second, they’re unable to regroup.

The attack occurred in the heart of Peshawar’s cantonment area, which houses the Governor’s House, FC headquarters, Cantonment railway station, Peshawar Press Club and central prison and other sensitive installations.

Though law-enforcement personnel claim to be strictly monitoring the movement of vehicles, the terrorist’s car going unnoticed by them speaks otherwise.

The road is very important as some four suicide blasts, one at sessions court, second on the press club, third on the Frontier Corps convoy and fourth on FC commandant Safwat Ghayyur, have taken place since 2009 but no proper arrangement has been made to install closed circuit television cameras on it. Cameras are installed on the walls of many private buildings but they didn’t record the movement of the explosives-laden vehicle.

The checking of explosives-laden vehicles has become a major challenge for the police due to the growing traffic in the capital city. Most checkpoints on the roads were pulled down many months ago for different reasons, mainly due to the police’s harsh conduct towards people. The checking of all vehicles is quite impossible because the police have no detectors for the purpose and doing the job manually requires scores of security personnel.

The checking of explosives-laden vehicles has become a major challenge for the police due to the growing traffic on city roads. Most checkpoints on the roads were pulled down many months ago for different reasons, mainly due to the police’s harsh conduct towards people. The checking of all vehicles is quite impossible because the police have no detectors for the purpose and doing the job manually requires scores of security personnel at checkpoints.

In Peshawar, most roads are connected with rural areas surrounded by tribal areas, including Khyber Agency, Mohmand Agency and Frontier Regions Peshawar and Kohat.

For terrorists, it is easy to act in Peshawar as they can easily move around the district in transport chiefly due to the growing population, negligence of the police, lack of cooperation from the people with the law-enforcement personnel and involvement of the vested interests.

In the past, terrorists used to restrict their activities to the localities bordering tribal areas but now, the city areas, too, are understood to have been infested with terrorists, who have rented houses and can easily shift from one place to another.

According to police sources, many terrorist gangs have been busted during the last one year but even then, the number of criminals involved in extortion, kidnappings for ransom, targeted killings, and car and motorcycle snatching is fast increasing.

After the military launched military offensive against militants in North Waziristan Agency, terrorist activities in the provincial capital, especially bomb blasts, came to a virtual halt to the relief of the authorities and the people alike. However, the extortion and kidnapping incidents continued.

As for terrorism, a disturbing aspect is the growing attacks on Sikhs in Peshawar and Charsadda districts and parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where nine members of the religious minority were killed over the last 14 months. Ironically, none of the killers has been arrested so far. Sikhs are perhaps very easy to target as they don’t keep firearms and focus on their business.

During the last government, the people of Peshawar and other districts had a very tough time due to the repeated bomb blasts in busy bazaars, religious places, shrines, funerals, jirgas, political meetings and on convoys. However, after the last elections, a change was seen as for terrorist activities: the people were not targeted anymore.

During the current year, not a single big bomb blast has taken place in Peshawar. A suicide bomber had attacked at police official Bukhari Shah in Sarband area. The attack left many passersby dead and injured and the police’s armoured personnel carrier partially damaged but the target escaped unhurt.

However, the recent attack on FC convoy is a live example of the potential of terrorists and also a message to those claiming to have destroyed the network. It seems terrorists are still in a strong position and have the potential to act when and wherever they wish. For the law enforcement personnel, it is a matter of grave concern to know where from the explosives-laden car reached the blast site in the high security zone. The chiefs of different police stations insisted it was impossible for them to check every vehicle passing in their respective areas due to a lack of resources and manpower.

Not long ago, the police had planned to know the identity of the residents of different localities by collecting their data but the exercise was left halfway. Now, there is no system in place to follow terrorists or criminals after they strike.

There are reports about the involvement of some policemen in crimes suggesting such personnel were hand in glove with outlaws and provide them safe passage in case of any possible action against them. Several policemen have so far been sacked over illegal activities.

Besides, there is also no check on automobile workshops across Peshawar district.

According to insiders, many mechanics are involved in the scrapping of stolen vehicles and packing explosive materials in cars but there is no check on them. With the help of the anti-Taliban volunteers, some mechanics were taken into custody from Ring Road three years ago but it is still not known what legal action against suspects has been taken.

In the past, anti-terrorist volunteers, popularly known as qaumi lashkars, also extended support to the police against militants but they were totally ignored forcing them to stop cooperation with law-enforcement personnel.

A volunteer from Mattani area said many of his relatives had been killed in the fight with the Taliban but the government did not support his family.

According to him, volunteers have always played active and very effective role in pinpointing the suspected people in different villages and saved the police.

He said movement of suspected persons could be stopped if the government and local volunteers extended cooperation to each other.

“We gave sacrifices of all kinds but the government did not support us and as a result, our children have stopped going to schools for the fear of attacks by militants,” he said, adding that he had shifted to his family to another village at least to save his family.

About the current situation, senior investigator Abdul Ghaffar said explosives-laden vehicles could not be checked on the roads as checking of a single vehicle needed at least 10 minutes and if the exercise began, the entire traffic system would be disrupted.

Capital city police officer Ijaz Ahmad Khan said the police had full control of the law and order situation for many months.

He said the recent terrorist act was a reaction of the Zarb-e-Azb military operation against militants in North Waziristan Agency.

“We have focused on the checking of suspected people and vehicles on the entry points to get a clue to the people behind the sabotage,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2014