A meeting was held in the Central Police Office, Peshawar under the chairmanship of the Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani to review the efforts made in war against terrorism. The Additional IGP CTD gave the briefing encompassing in-depth analysis of the overall situation of the terrorism in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The six month comparison, from January to June, of the last four years shows that there has been a considerable decrease in incidence of terrorism in the year 2016. During this year the number of terrorism incidents has been 99 whereas the number of terrorism incidents reported in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 were 281, 292 and 134 respectively.
This shows a significant decrease of 65 percent in number of incidents in 2016 as compared to the year 2013 and a decrease of 26 percent as compared to that of the year 2015. The modus-operandi wise break-up of the terrorism incidents revealed that the terrorists and miscreants have been adopting various methods for realization of their sinister designs.
These include IED attacks, Vehicle-borne IED attacks, Suicide Attacks, Vehicle-borne Suicide attacks, Hand grenades, Missiles & Rockets and Firing. However, the means employed most frequently for perpetrating the sabotage activities include planting IED and resorting to firing. The four-year study period depicted that the IED attacks have drastically decreased in the current year.
During the current year 36 IED attacks took place whereas the number of IED attacks reported in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 were 183, 143 and 53 respectively. The overall decrease in IED attacks has been 80 percent in the year 2016 as compared to the year 2013 and 38 percent as compared to the year 2015. It is worth mentioning that no vehicle-borne IED attack took place in the years 2015 and 2016. Similarly, suicide attacks have also decreased.
During the current year 3 suicide attacks took place whereas the number of suicide attacks reported in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 were 13, 8 and 3 respectively. Further, no vehicle-borne suicide attack, missile attack and rocket attack has been reported in the year 2016.
During the current year 49 firing incidents took place whereas the number of firing attacks reported in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 were 57, 79 and 47 respectively. The overall decrease in firing incidents has been 38 percent in the year 2016 as compared to that of year 2014.
Similarly, during the current year 11 hand grenades based attacks took place whereas the number of hand grenades based attacks reported in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 were 14, 46 and 26 respectively. This shows an overall decrease of 76 percent in the year 2016 as compared to that of year 2014.
While highlighting the performance of Counter-Terrorism Department, the Additional IGP CTD briefed that 534 cases of terrorism has been traced so far. In these cases 924 militants have been arrested and chalaned to the courts. Furthermore, 97 hardened Proclaimed Offenders involved in terrorism cases on whose apprehension heavy head bounty had been announced by the government have also been arrested.
A prominent militant Proclaimed Offenders namely Gul Rauf alias Gul Raip s/o Sardaraz and Qari Rashid s/o Muhammad Zaman have been arrested on whom head-money worth Rs 2 million and Rs 1 million respectively had been fixed. Gul Rauf was involved in five different cases of attacks on Security Forces, Police and Public Places in the Bannu Region.
The most wanted militants, namely Atiq Ur Rehman s/o Ali Rehman and Hazrat Ali s/o Sahibzada, involved in the brutal attack on Police and Civilians in Peshawar have been nabbed.
Another hardened militant, Imdadullah alias Farooq Alam s/o Mehardad, involved in nine different cases of attacks on Police, Security Forces and civilians in Mardan Region was traced and arrested.
The other militants arrested include Junaid s/o Ali Ahmed, Abdur Rehman s/o Haji Abbas, Anwar s/o Ghulam Haider, Mustaqim s/o Muslim, Shah Behram s/o Muhammad Hussain, Noor Wali alias Noor Ali s/o Muhammad Ali, Taj Malook s/o Dar Shah alias Ali Hassan, Bakht Jamal s/o Badray Khan and Naseem Shah s/o Sheen Shah on whom head-money worth Rs 0.5 million each had been fixed.
It is pertinent to mention that during the current year Mardan Region has been the focus of militant activities which is evident from the fact that all the three major terrorist incidents took place there.
These include militant attacks on Bacha Khan University, Charsadda; Shabqadar Courts; and NADRA Regional Office Mardan. All these cases have been traced and some arrests have also been made.
The Additional IGP CTD also explained the offensive-cum-defensive strategy adopted to counter militancy and religiously implement the National Action Plan. The offensive measures include search and strike operations, snap checking and crackdown on militants.
Whereas the defensive measures include denying the bases to the miscreants in the settled areas by crack down on illegal immigrants, fake CNIC holders and attesters, tenants with suspicious credentials; target hardening of the sensitive and vulnerable areas; crackdown on dissemination of hate material and misuse of loudspeaker to prevent the propagation of sectarian and anti-state sentiments in the province; and enhanced surveillance of persons belonging to proscribed organizations.