The effective security blanket of Islamabad police and administration helped in averting 391 terrorist strikes in the federal capital last year, said Kaleem Imam, Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad Police here on Tuesday. "We received 398 terror alerts during the year out of which 391 threats were averted by the proactive approach of security apparatus while terrorists succeeded only on seven occasion", Imam said while addressing the business community of Islamabad.
Islamabad Police has arrested 82 terrorists, which is the largest capture throughout Pakistan and shows the performance of Islamabad Police, the IG said. During the year 41 policemen sacrificed their lives while performing the duty, he added.
The announcement of a package for the policemen who sacrificed their life by Prime Minister Gilani is moral booster for the force, he said, adding that this gesture will further encourage police force to perform their duty more effectively. He said Islamabad has 165 entry points and efforts will be made to cover most of these points with scanners, detectors and other gadgets to proactively stop the acts of terrorism.
For this purpose, latest technology will be imported in collaboration with Nadra to track the miscreants. He said that the private security companies will have to get train their guards trained from Police Training Centers so that they could provide well equipped security men to business houses.
Kaleem Imam said that the business community is playing a vital role in promoting the local economy and Islamabad Police will take every possible measure to address the problems of businessmen. He said after 9/11, all focus was on Islamabad and our police have to face a new kind of challenge where terrorists were not hesitating inn destroying their own lives. He said this is a big challenge and though police is short of resources, it is fully committed to eradicating this menace.
He said Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) would be activated and asked President ICCI to head this Committee for effective resolution of all day to day problems being faced by the businessmen. He said business community should install more cameras in markets and help police in tracking down the terrorists and other culprits.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Zahid Maqbool, President, ICCI said increasing incidents of terrorism are damaging business activities and discouraging investment, therefore, police should take measures to curb this trend. He said police should ban the smoke-emitting vehicles in Islamabad as they are polluting the environment. Thana (police station) culture should be made more people friendly so that people could come to Police Stations without any hesitation and fear for resolution of their problems, he added.