KOHAT: Keeping in view recent threats, the security of worship places and local courts has been beefed up by deploying a network of personnel of intelligence agencies, quick response force and riders’ squad besides enhancing road and on foot patrolling.

According to a statement on Saturday, district police officer Wahid Mehmood checked security of the places and issued guidelines to the deployed staff about checking people and their belongings before entering imambargahs and other places.

The DPO also visited the checkpoint at the local courts and checked the security of lawyers and judges. He issued directives to the staff for effective safety measures.

DPO also checks security of local courts

The security plan include installation of walkthrough gates, CCTV cameras, declaring no parking zones within 20-metre limit of the worship places and checking of vehicles and people at all entry points of the district.

He asked the SP operations Tahir Khan, sub-divisional circle officers and SHOs to themselves monitor preparedness of the force for removing any shortcomings.

CRIME REPORT: The police have recovered a big quantity of weapons and drugs and arrested hundreds of proclaimed offenders in over 250 operations in the district during the first quarter of current year.

A statement issued here said that the police recovered 250 kilogrammes of hashish, 15 kilogrammes of heroin and 13 kilogrammes of opium. It said that 360 proclaimed offenders wanted in murder, kidnapping, extortion and attempted murder cases were also arrested.

The statement said that the police seized 104 Kalashnikovs, 13 kalakovs, 39 repeaters, 45 rifles and 680 pistols in the first three months of th year.

A senior police official, Soheb Ashraf, told Dawn that controlling smuggling of drugs was the responsibility of narcotics control department and not of the police, but they were discharging that duty too. Also, the tribal administrations never deployed Khasadars at the borders to stop smuggling of drugs produced in tons every year.

Meanwhile, the district administration fined over 50 shopkeepers in the continuing anti-encroachment operation in Kohat bazaars.

ELECTED: The newly-elected district chairman of Pakistan Zindabad Movement political party has said that the US, India and Israel have waged fifth generation war against the sensitive institutions through its agents on social media and vowed to defend the ideological frontiers of Pakistan at all costs.

He was addressing the gathering after the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected Kohat district cabinet. The oath was administered by party’s provincial chairman Faheem Dad Bangash.

The district office-bearers included chairman Shahid Zaman Bangash, vice-chairman Mashood Khan, youth chairman Raham Din, secretary general Haider Khattak and youth secretary general Ilyas Khattak.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2019