QUETTA: Balochistan’s Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove has said that security forces have killed 14 hardcore terrorists belonging to banned organisations in the province over the past two months.

Addressing a press conference along with Adviser to the Chief Minister and Parliamentary Secretary on Information Bushra Rind and Inspector General of Police Mohammad Tahir Rai here, the minister said that a comprehensive operation would be launched against terrorists as their data had been collected.

Mr Langove said India was involved in attacks on security forces and other subversive activities just to worsen the law and order situation in the country, especially in Balochistan, through its agents based in Afghanistan.

The Indian government, he said, was not only using the Afghan territory but also spending huge funds for creating unrest in Pakistan. “Now we have found a lead about terrorist attacks and elements involved in these activities,” he added.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Arshad Majeed and other senior police officers also attended the press conference.

100 fugitives and 25 wanted accused arrested with the help of Data and Command Communication Centre

The minister and the IG said that an operation would be conducted in some parts of Mastung district as two suspected terrorists had recently been arrested from the Kalat area. They were carrying arms and ammunition.

They said the alleged murderers of Bilal Noorzai and journalist Wahid Raisani had been arrested.

Mr Langove said the digitisation of Balochistan’s police system was important and Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan had paid special attention to it for improving the performance of police.

He said the purpose of the Data and Command Communication Centre (D3C) was to strengthen police command and provide monitoring and connectivity through a digitised system.

“The system has to be set up so that the mission of serving the people can be pushed forward for making police performance more efficient in accordance with the vision of the chief minister,” he said.

The home minister said that through the system during the past one and a half months, 100 fugitives and 25 wanted accused had been arrested and operations had been carried out with the help of the D3C.

Speaking on the occasion, Bushra Rind appreciated the digitisation system of Balochistan police and said drone cameras were also included in the new system and in case of a blast or other crime drone cameras would also be used for monitoring and recording the incident.

She said a women police station would be established in Quetta and other parts of the province so the women could approach the police easily.

IG Tahir Rai said the D3C could store police data for many years. The record of 1.6 million criminals has been collected. ”Now it will be easier to arrest criminals in any corner of the country and with the help of this system 79 criminals have been arrested. The system has criminal records and prisoners data of all districts and the entire province can be controlled from the office of D3C,” he said.

“This system has revolutionised the working of the police. The data of 40,000 police personnel has been digitised which will identify the attendance of personnel and ghost employees,” he said.

In reply to a question, Mr Rai said police was fully implementing the orders of chief justice of the Balochistan High Court and taking action against non-duty paid vehicles and the vehicles with tinted glass bearing illegal number plates. A large number of cases had been registered in this regard, he added.

Published in Dawn, EOS, June 16th, 2021