PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is planning to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras all over the provincial capital to help the police counter terrorist attacks and keep check on the movement of suspected elements.
The CCTV cameras will be installed at public places, crowded trade centres and sensitive places to monitor suspicious activities. The CCTVs will be monitored through a fully equipped operation room.
The project was initially launched at the Gulbahar and East Cantonment police stations. Eight cameras were installed in different sections of the police stations as well as outside the buildings to keep a check not only on the activities inside the lock-up and offices of station house officers and moharrir, but also to keep an eye on movement of suspected persons.
The CCTV cameras were also connected with the office of the capital city police officer and the inspector general of police so they could keep an eye on these police stations. The IGP can even monitor the two police stations on his cellular phone.
The provincial government and the police authorities have decided to install more cameras at sensitive places in Peshawar in view of the recent terror attacks, particularly the bombings in Qissa Khwani and a church in Kohati Gate locality. “The CCTVs will be installed all over the provincial capital to improve vigilance,” Shiraz Paracha, spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister told The News.
When he was still the inspector general of police (IGP), Ihsan Ghani had said that two companies had offered to install the CCTV cameras at police stations. One company was given the project to install CCTV cameras at the Gulbahar Police Station and another was required to install cameras at the East Cantonment Police Station.
“The cameras will be installed at police stations all over the province. The CCTVs will be connected to the office of the concerned district police officer as well as the office of IGP,” Ihsan Ghani, who is currently director general of the National Police Bureau, had said.
The police authorities have asked the unions of different trade centres to install CCTV cameras at their expense to help the police. The police officers have stressed the need for deploying private guards at banks and other private offices so that the cops could perform their duty elsewhere.
“There are around 40,000 CCTV cameras in London. Most have been installed by private organisations and individuals for security purposes,” a police official said.
Apart from CCTVs, the police authorities have directed the management of the bus stands to properly check the baggage and keep an eye on suspicious persons before a passenger vehicle departs for its destination. “The stand officials will give a token to the driver after proper search that can be checked by the police midway,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Peshawar Najibur Rahman.
The step was taken after a bomb blast on a bus carrying government employees from Peshawar to Charsadda last month. Some 19 persons were killed and 46 others injured in the explosion. A similar blast in a bus last year had killed and wounded many persons.
