The Punjab government on Sunday declared Mianwali and Bhakkar districts a 'Red Zone', following apprehensions that the Taliban, under attack in South Waziristan, could enter Punjab from there.
DPO Mianwali Abdul Jabbar said, "The provincial government has deployed security personnel on both banks of the Indus River running through Mianwali and Bhakkar and set up checkposts to check possible Taliban infiltration."
The security personnel have also seized all boats in order to control all means of river crossing. Those entering or leaving the district would have to prove their identities.
Local administration, according to him, has beefed up security following instructions from the Interior Ministry. The number of police personnel deployed at entry and exit points of cities have been increased and have also been equipped with metal detectors and reinforced with barriers, ditches, sentry posts and barbed wires.
Pervaiz Shah Qandhari, DPO Bhakkar, said a number of suspects were taken into custody when they entered the Punjab and they were being interrogated. The security agencies had also been asked to monitor Afghans whose names were in the list of 'Afghan Trained Boys', trained to carry out suicide attacks. The police in a raid on a bus which was going to Peshawar from Karachi arrested seven Afghans.
Kashmore police said a passenger coach heading to Peshawar from Karachi was searched on Sindh-Punjab border and finding seven Afghans on board without any travelling documents were taken into custody and later shifted to nearby police station. In all, thirty-seven foreigners had thus far been taken into custody from this very place during the last one week.
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