PESHAWAR: The Saddar and Qissa Khwani bazaars remained completely sealed again on Tuesday to avert any terrorist attack. Motorists were diverted to other routes and only pedestrians were allowed to enter Saddar Road and Qissa Khwani, causing hardships to customers, commuters and traders.
The offices of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on the Arbab Road in Saddar were closed Tuesday morning on the instructions of the police. There were reports that the PIA premises could be targetted by the terrorists. The offices were got vacated and security tightened to avert an attack. Way back in 1986, the PIA offices were bombed killing five people, including the airlines staffers and visitors, and injuring many others.
Police contingents have been deployed at over 100 check points to search vehicles entering the city limits. There are checkposts along the Ring Road, in the suburbs and within the urban limits.
Despite all precautionary measures, a suicide bomber once again succeeded in hitting his target in the most sensitive part of Peshawar where the Sessions Courts, the Home Department, MPAs Hostel, the Governor’s House, Civil Secretariat and the Central Prison are located.
“Why hundreds of policemen are posted at such a large number of security checkpoints when they could not stop the entry of suicide bombers due to absence of sophisticated gadgetry. Amid this so-called strictest security that only bothers the public, bombers have succeeded in striking targets thrice on Khyber Road, once in Meena Bazaar and once outside the Sessions Courts causing a huge loss of precious lives,” said Mohammad Idrees Bacha, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz from Sakhakot who is running his business in Peshawar.
A senior officer of the police disclosed the force had only six detectors and 12 sniffers for the entire provincial metropolis that was why the terrorists succeeded in their designs.A detector can find explosives within a 100 meters radius when the cops handling the machine continue walking all over.
“We have requested for explosive detectors for at least half of the over 100 security checkpoints to ensure foolproof security. The lower quality of explosive-detector costs Rs2.2 million while a scanner costs Rs130 million,” the official said.
He admitted majority of the cops even don’t know how to handle explosive detectors and sniffers. “We are looking for other modern gadgetry and have talked to people abroad to look for more sophisticated scanners,” he added.
The Frontier Police chief Malik Naveed Khan told The News they had ordered explosive-detectors and other gadgets but import of the devices takes time. “We will soon be able to detect explosives in a car by getting the required gadgetry. We are looking for devices that can detect explosives even from 500 metres,” he said.
People are concerned over the hollow claims of senior government officials and security officials about improvement in the situation. “They just make these claims to get media coverage. Nothing really has been done to improve the situation,” said Engineer Suleman.
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