PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan on Tuesday hinted at the withdrawal of police guards of former lawmakers and bureaucrats and other individuals and directed authorities to review mechanisms for such deployments.

“In view of the current law and order situation, we [government] can’t afford to spare police personnel in a large number for the security of individuals,” the chief minister told his first official meeting after assuming the office here, according to an official statement.

He, however, said police guards would be provided to those who “really needed” them.

The participants, including chief secretary Dr Shehzad Bangash, police chief Muazzam Jah Ansari and other officials, discussed the province’s security and financial situations.

According to the statement, the meeting decided in principle to review the mechanism for the deployment of police guards with former representatives of the people, former bureaucrats and other individuals and directed the relevant quarters to come up with proposals on the matter for the cabinet’s approval.

The caretaker chief minister was informed that currently, more than 4,000 police personnel served as guards of former representatives of people as well as bureaucrats.

Says increase in attacks on police matter of great concern

Mr Khan said the prevailing law and order situation in the province, especially an increase in attacks on police, was a matter of great concern and that the caretaker setup would pay special attention to improve it.

“All available resources will be utilised to improve the situation to the desired level,” he said.

The chief minister said in view of the prevailing law and order situation in the province, the matter regarding the strengthening of the police department, especially the counter-terrorism department, would be taken up with the federal government.

He said he would speak to the prime minister in a couple of days about the province’s financial and security issues.

Mr Khan said his government would go all-out for the resolution of those issues on priority and make every possible effort to get the cooperation of the federal government for the purpose.

He appreciated the police for fighting militancy on the frontline and said police officials had rendered great sacrifices for peace.

He urged people to monitor anti-social elements around them and support police for a crackdown on them.

Meanwhile, the participants were briefed in details about the overall law and order situation in the province, initiatives so far taken by the police department to maintain law and order and future course of action to deal with the situation.

Officials said last year, 494 terrorist incidents were reported across the province with 119 police personnel being martyred and 112 injured.

They said more than 21,000 search and strike operations were conducted leading to the arrest of over 33,000 suspects, while over 125,000 suspects were held during snap checking.

The officials said over 15,000 FIRs were registered against suspects after search operations of houses, residential apartments, hotels, public transport terminals and other sensitive and vulnerable places.

They said the last year recorded

the arrest of 812 terrorists by the counter-terrorism department and recovery of more than 62,000 unlicensed weapons.

The officials said the police were taking every possible step to deal with the challenges and were extending coordination to the other law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.

They said steps were being taken to enhance the police’s visibility, community mobilisation and installation of CCTV cameras at vulnerable places to effectively deal with the situation.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2023