RAWALPINDI: The Punjab police have put more than 10,500 additional security personnel on a standby with necessary equipment to deal with In order to deal with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) of protest march on D Chowk Islamabad on Nov 24, sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

According to the sources, after observing law and order situation, the Punjab police have issued the orders.

The federal and Punjab government have decided to take strict measures to deal with the call and the police have been placed on “high alert” throughout the Punjab.

On behalf of the Inspector General of Police Punjab, the Additional Inspector General of Police has sent a letter in this regard to Commandant Punjab Constabulary Farooqabad, Additional IG Punjab Highway Patrolling Police and Training Punjab, DIG SPU Punjab, Regional Police Officers Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, and Dera Ghazi Khan.

The letter said as approved by the competent authority, the Punjab Highway Patrolling Police Punjab had assured to provide 500 police force for law and order duty, but now they had committed 3500 more personnel.

Similarly, the Punjab Constabulary Division had assured to provide another 1,000 personnel, Gujranwala Division which had assured to provide 600 policemen, has now committed 1,300 more personnel, Sargodha Region which had assured to provide 400 personnel, has now promised to provide 500 more personnel and Faisalabad District had assured to provide 500 personnel in addition to 800 already committed by the region.

Furthermore, 200 police personnel from Sargodha district, 200 from Khushab district, 200 from Bahawalnagar district, 300 from Bahawalpur district and 300 from Muzaffargarh district and orders have been issued to the training institutes of Punjab Police to keep a force of 1,200 officers and jawans on a stand-by position.

It further said that districts shall be bound to provide transportation facilities where their respective camps are established and Liaison Officers have been deputed from the respective RPOs, CPOs, and DPOs for this purpose.

One DSP will supervise every 100 police personnel and one SP every 300 police force.

A police official said the hot spot areas of the protesters coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are Attock, Pathar Ghar and Thatta Khalil, etc. Therefore, more focus will also be on the security and arrangements of Attock and Rawalpindi.

This time, a large number of additional police have been arranged as compared in the past.

He said following the orders from the high ups, the additional force will reach their respective duty points within six to 12 hours.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2024