DERA GHAZI KHAN: Punjab Rangers conducted a joint search operation with police and counter terrorism department on Thursday in Gaddai and Taunsa tehsil, arresting 13 suspects, one of them allegedly trained in Afghanistan, sources told Dawn.

It was the first day of Rangers’ deployment in Dera Ghazi Khan district, like the rest of Punjab.

District Police Officer Sajjad Hussain Gujar told the media that during the joint operation Manzoor Hussain, Zubair and Allah Bachaya were arrested in Gaddai. Of them, Manzoor, was trained in terrorist activities in Afghanistan, he added.

He said that biometric devices were used in the search operation to net the suspects .

The DPO said nine suspects were arrested in Hudwarr and Nizamabad areas of Taunsa tehsil.

He said security had been beefed up and CCTV cameras were installed on the entry and exist points of D G Khan city and the district.

About the security of the two-and-a-half months long Urs-cum-festival to be held at the shrine of Hazrat Syed Sultan Ahmed Sakhi Sarwar, some 30 kilometres from here, in the foothills of Sulaiman mountain range, the DPO said more than 500 policemen had been deployed there.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Allah Rakha Anjum visited Sakhi Sarwar shrine. He said more than 22 CCTV cameras had been installed to monitor the visitors.

Punjab Rangers troops led by Maj Tariq also inspected the area for setting up pickets during the Urs.

The shrine was targeted by two suicide bombers in April 2011, claiming lives of more than 50 devotees, including children and women.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017