PESHAWAR, April 9: NWFP Provincial Police Officer Mohammad Sharif Virk on Monday said the law enforcement agencies had found clues to the bomb explosions which had taken place in various parts of the province.

He said: “Investigations show that recent bomb explosions in the province, including its capital, have links across the border, which hindered the arrests of the culprits.”

The PPO was talking to the business community in a meeting held at the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here on Monday.

It must be mentioned here that there has been a sharp increase in the number of explosions in the NWFP since 2004. That year there had been 27.

By 2006, the number had increased to 35. In January and February this year at least 25 such incidents took place, claiming a total of 23 lives.

The police officer conceded that the law and order situation in the province was deteriorating, which he mainly linked to shortage of police personnel and insufficient equipment.

Mr Virk said: “In 1955, there were 30,000 police personnel in the NWFP in addition to 11,000 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary, whereas today the actual strength of the police force is 35,000, which is not sufficient for maintenance of law and order in the Frontier province.”

He lamented that terrorists and criminal gangs possessed more sophisticated weapons than the police force.

He said the province needed a 65,000-strong police force equipped with sophisticated weapons.

He said the federal government was being pressured to honour its commitment regarding recruitment of 15,000 additional personnel for the police force.

The police chief said the NWFP’s case was particular as the presence of more than 2.2 million Afghan refugees and the influx of weapons in the backdrop of a three-decade long Afghan conflict were the main contributing factors that affected the law and order situation here.

Regarding the treatment meted out to people at police stations, he said efforts were being made for bringing a visible change in the ‘Thana culture’. He added that police officials had been directed time and again to talk politely to complainants.

He agreed to a proposal for formation of a liaison committee at the SCCI level to discuss day-to-day problems with senior officials of the local police.