SWABI, Sept 15: Security has been tightened around the electricity generating units of the Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha hydro-power projects after Thursday’s suicide attack which left at least 15 soldiers dead in the Tarbela-Ghazi area.
Informed sources told Dawn on Saturday that the suicide attack and the arrest of a suspect from Topi tehsil had not only set off alarm bells for security forces, but had also alerted the managements of the Ghazi Barotha and Tarbela projects to the dangers that might lie ahead.
The sources said that steps had now been taken to stop the entry of any suspicious person or outsider to the sensitive areas. “We have already taken a number of measures and no one can enter the key areas of these projects,” said an official.
The security staff felt the brunt of the attack because it was the first time that an untoward incident had occurred in the high security zone, said a source over telephone. “This was absolutely a new thing which has created panic that is still haunting us,” he said.
The sources said that public transport did not pass through the Tarbela dam area because of the construction of the Ghazi Barotha project which had been built in the downstream of Tarbela. Because of this, the Islamabad-, Rawalpindi- and Haripur-bound vehicles, which earlier passed through the Tarbela dam, are diverted at the Haider Colony point to pass though the Barotha project.
Except for Wapda employees, no one is allowed to enter the Power House region of the Tarbela dam and key points of the Barotha project. Even Wapda employees were checked at three checkpoints for their normal duty, said an official, adding that they were not allowed to come for duty in their vehicles and each employee, either in lower or upper rank, must reach the office in the official transport.
The sources said the security guards at the entry checkpoints had been given special instructions to thoroughly check all the people who enter the key zones of the projects. Rickshaw drivers who fail to acquire entry passes from security officials are not allowed to enter residential areas of Tarbela.