ISLAMABAD: Following the recent wave of terror attacks across the country, the capital administration and police on Friday put all shrines, worship and public places on a high alert.

In the garrison city of Rawalpindi and its outskirts, the police and army conducted a search operation and detained 34 suspects and recovered arms and ammunition.

Besides, the weekly bazaars in the capital were not opened due to security concerns on the advice of the law enforcement agencies.

The decision was taken at a meeting attended by all senior officers of the capital administration and police, including Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Mushtaq Ahmed and Senior Superintendent of Police Sajid Kiani.

The meeting reviewed security measures for shrines, worship places, educational institutes, weekly bazaars and shopping centres.

Meanwhile, the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) on Thursday night warned the chiefs of the police in Punjab, Islamabad and the director general of Rangers Punjab to tighten security around important installations, including hospitals and schools, after intelligence reports indicated that a suicide bomber had been sent by terror groups to strike in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The threat alert issued by Nacta identified the suicide bomber as Osama and said he and his brother were students in Peshawar. However, no detail about the institute they studied in was given.

In the warning, Nacta also said a man named Ghazali had been sent to Quetta to carry out a terrorist attack there.

Search operations

The capital police along with the Rangers and other security agencies on Friday conducted a search operation in Bhara Kahu and Sihala and arrested 42 suspects, including 10 Afghan nationals, and recovered weapons from them.

During the operation, more than 350 houses were screened. The police recovered arms and ammunition, including four SMGs, two repeaters, one 12-bore gun, two double-barrel guns, two 8mm and three 9mm pistols.

In Rawalpindi, door-to-door search operations were conducted in Pirwadhai bus stand, Soan bus stand, Cantt and Chakwal railway stations, Shakrial and Taxila during which hundreds of residents were questioned.

The 34 individuals taken into custody were shifted to different police stations for further questioning though they were not formally arrested till the filing of this report.

Law enforcement agencies were directed to deploy experienced officials for search and combing operations, who can understand the body language of criminals and terrorists in order to conduct more efficient raids, a senior police officer told Dawn.

He said since the recent terror attacks across the country, the Counter-Terrorism Department had been directed to keep an eye on those listed on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act and other criminals or those who had links with banned outfits in the past.

“There is no doubt that terrorists are being facilitated at the local level which is why law enforcement agencies are conducting search operations,” he said.

The officer said law enforcement agencies were also making sure that those on the Fourth Schedule were present on their listed addresses.

Inadequate security in parks

Taking notice of the inadequate security around the main parks in Rawalpindi, the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA)’s acting director general Raja Shaukat asked contractors to complete ongoing works for the enhancement of security measures.

During a visit to the Nawaz Sharif Parkon Friday, Mr Shaukat found that the contractors had not raised the height of the boundary wall from six to eight feet and the installation of CCTV cameras was slow.

He said the work to set up a command and control centre, the installation of CCTV cameras and other security measures should be sped up.

He also visited the Al-Khari, Qari Khushi Mohammad and Commercial Market parks in Satellite Town and directed the PHA officials to improve the security measures.

The Punjab government released Rs50 million to the PHA to improve the parks’ security in December. Under the Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Act 2015, the local administration issued notices to the PHA to improve security in the public parks, especially those visited by hundreds of citizens every day.

The Special Branch pointed out that parks’ boundary walls were broken in many places and there were no CCTV arrangements. There are over 40 parks under the administrative control of the PHA but the Rs50 million are being spent on the security of 10 large parks.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2017