GILGIT: Security of private, government and army-run educational institutions and sensitive installations in the Gilgit city has been tightened to avert any terrorist attack in the wake of the massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar.

An official of Gilgit police on condition of anonymity told Dawn on Saturday that checking at entry and exit points of Gilgit-Baltistan had also been stepped up to thwart infiltration of outlaws into the region.

Additional police personnel have been deployed at the exit and entry points on the Karakkoram Highway, and people coming in and going out of the region are being frisked, said the official.

The security of important buildings like district jail, governor house, civil secretariat, and places of worship has also been beefed up, he said.

The official said that police personnel had been deployed at the government, private and army run schools and colleges in the city. Patrolling in the city has also been intensified, he said, adding that non-local residents, including Afghan nationals, were also being checked for security reasons.

To a question that whether there was any security threat in the region, the official said that as GB was a sensitive area it had had security threats.

Meanwhile, Gilgit-Baltistan caretaker chief minister Sher Jahan Mir has directed the home department to enhance security at the sensitive government installations, according to a press release issued on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the caretaker chief minister has assured the protesting Social Action Programme teachers that they would soon receive good news regarding their service regularisation.

According to a press release, Mr Mir said that he had met Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Chaudhry Birjis Tahir in Islamabad on Friday to discuss the demands of the protesting teachers. He said that the federal minister had assured him of meeting the demands of the teachers.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2014