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PESHAWAR: The frequent terrorist attacks in Peshawar, including the one on the well-fortified ‘C Division’ (Kotwali) police station on Friday last, have wrong-footed the police who face a daunting task of figuring out any further steps they need to take to secure police stations.During a survey by this correspondent, several experienced officials said here on Sunday that the Kotwali police station was believed to be comparatively more secure than others due to the walls raised around it and presence of regular sentries, but even then it was attacked and at least four policemen, including two sub-inspectors, were killed.
During the past few weeks several bomb blasts and other sabotage acts have taken place in Peshawar, but the Feb 23 car bomb blast at Kohat Road bus stand and the suicide blasts at the Kotwali police station were one of the worst attacks. These attacks shook the police department to the core, which will have to come up with a strategy to save the city areas from the frequent sabotage acts.
In general, most of the police officials hold the Bara operation responsible for the increasing terrorism in Peshawar and are not ready to accept the facts about frequent movement of terrorists in the city’s streets.
In this context provincial police officer Mohammad Akbar Hoti on Saturday held a meeting with his subordinate officers and warned them that in case of any security lapse the concerned superintendent of police will be held responsible and that was why the SP City, Imtiaz Shah, was transferred. Several other investigation officers were also transferred from different police stations the same day.
During past few years bomb blasts have taken place frequently in Peshawar and files of most of such cases were closed with the passage of time. However, the attack on the ‘C Division’ police station is a serious challenge to the city police, as it is the main place where all the reserved police are kept for any emergency duty in any part of the district. According to information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, about 370 policemen were present at the time of attack.
A retired senior officer told Dawn that during the past three years at least three sentries had to guard each gate of the Kotwali police station, but this time only one guard was present who could not face three bombers and thus he retreated.
He said that police inspector Munawar Khan and a constable were shot dead by a suicide bomber before he could blow himself up, which proved that the bombers were armed with automatic weapons and the gates were open to all. He said that most of the officials were worried about the night duties when they become more vulnerable to attacks. He said that it was duty of the provincial police chief to himself supervise such places in the prevailing situation.
“Had one of the bombers reached the place where hundreds of policemen were sleeping the casualties could have been much higher,” the former officer said. He suggested that the government should hold complete investigations as to why appropriate measures were not put in place.
“I say that the bombers had not reached there through a parachute, but came through the streets and there is no system to check the suspected persons coming close to the police station’s gates,” he observed.
SSP (investigation) Umer Riaz said that one of the attackers seemed to be Uzbek, and samples of their nails had been taken for DNA tests. He said that investigation was underway.
He said that facts about the actual target of the Kohat Road bus stand blast were yet to be ascertained. The road leads to southern districts and Waziristan tribal agencies and the target could haven been something else, he observed.
Peshawar SSP Tahir Ayub said that some people had admitted responsibility for the blast, but he did not give details. Officially, no one has so far claimed the responsibility, which is why it will be hard for the police to close files of the case.
Peshawar police chief Syed Imtiaz Altaf claimed that police had been making efforts to secure lives of the people, but terrorists were entering the city from the surrounding tribal regions, mainly due to the ongoing operations there.
