Pakistan: Insecurity grows in Peshawar as extortionists have a field day

he incidents of bombing of houses in the provincial capital have increased to the extent that every individual is now feeling insecure even inside their homes.

Most of the cases are that of extortion in which the rings target the houses of those who refuse to pay the extortion money. Two houses were bombed on Wednesday while two more were targetted with explosives on Tuesday. Bombs and hand-grenades explode outside houses so frequently that it is no more a piece of news for the people of the city.

On Wednesday, the house of a schoolteacher, Naeem, was bombed in Sarband village. Police said the family had received calls from the extortionists and when they failed to pay up, the callers lobbed explosives into the house. Though no casualty was caused, the house was slightly damaged due to the impact of the blast.

Another bomb went off outside the residence of a former nazim, Tariq Mateen, in Bostanabad area in the limits of the Phandu Police Station. On Tuesday, the house of a former naib nazim, Yousuf, was targetted in Tor Baba while the house of a trader was targetted in Duranpur village in Chamkani. Both the families had received calls for payment of extortion.

The house of Yousuf had come under a similar attack a couple of months back. On Monday, houses were targetted in two different parts of the provincial capital. Hundreds of well-off people from the provincial capital have received calls for payment of extortion. Many of them are well-off people, but a large number are those who are either running small businesses or have earned a few hundred thousands in recent years.

Hundreds of families in the provincial capital are spending sleepless nights following calls for extortion or for fear of receiving similar calls since the menace is spreading to almost all parts of the city now.

Several families, who could afford, have already shifted to Islamabad, safer cities in Punjab and abroad to avoid further stress and threats to their families, businesses and properties. Apart from Peshawar, the menace of extortion has spread in many parts of the Mardan division, especially Mardan and Swabi districts.

The police find it hard to provide security to those receiving the calls or to bust the gangs. The number of victims of the groups is fast increasing with each passing day as the government is doing nothing to provide relief to them. Police officials argue they have busted a number of gangs and efforts were being made to tighten the noose around others, but most of them are operating from the tribal areas and Afghanistan.

The police sent a detailed report to the ministry of interior for setting up a taskforce to go after the gangs of extortionists in the tribal areas and make efforts to counter others operating from across the border. The force is looking for the technology to locate the callers without any delay and provide relief to those who receive threatening calls.