PESHAWAR: The inspector general of police (IGP) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the new capital city police officer (CCPO) Peshawar have taken over charge at a time when the provincial capital has been struck by a number of terror attacks.
It remains to be seen whether they would be able to successfully lead the police force and give a sense of security to the common man or fail to come up to the expectations of the general public and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government. The worsening law and order in Peshawar has not only become a challenge for IGP Nasir Khan Durrani and CCPO Ijaz Ahmad, but also for the PTI government.
The government recently experimented with the city police force that further deteriorated the situation. On the day when the new CCPO was appointed, the city witnessed a bomb attack on cops guarding anti-polio vaccination teams in Sulemankhel and six kilogram explosives were detected and defused in Badaber, Swati and Katcha Garhi areas. Moreover, 10 persons were kidnapped from Matani while a police inspector was shot and wounded in Hashtnagri the same day.
Ijaz Ahmad is the youngest ever capital city police officer (CCPO) in the country. An officer of the 28th Common Training Programme (CTP) of the Police Service of Pakistan, he was promoted to grade-19 only a couple of years back. The post of the CCPO is of grade-21. Liaqat Ali Khan, who was CCPO till August is 16 years senior to the new police chief.
Besides heading the district police force in Dir Upper and Mansehra, Ijaz has served as senior superintendent of police (SSP) Operations Peshawar in the past. He was tasked to lead the Dera Ismail Khan Range in the first week of August, a couple of days after the DIK jailbreak during which over 243 prisoners, including militants, escaped.
After having a brief but effective stint as deputy inspector general (DIG) of Dera Ismail Khan, Ijaz was posted CCPO Peshawar after the senior officers expressed unwillingness to lead the force. This time, too, he emerged as the best option for the office of the CCPO despite being junior.
The city has been under threat since September 22. The police force is on high alert after intelligence reports about more bombings and terror attacks in the city. The reports suggested that armed groups are patrolling the streets in the limits of Matani, Badaber, Sarband and Pishtakhara.
The incidents of kidnapping for ransom are on the rise in Hayatabad and towns on both sides of the Ring Road and the Kohat Road. Also, the calls for extortion, robberies and other street crimes have made the life a living hell for the Peshawarites.
Weak intelligence network, ineffective officers in sub-divisions and police stations lacking explosive detectors, scanners and sniffer dogs, ineffective checkposts at the entry and exit points are some of the reasons that the situation is not improving despite structural changes in the setup of the provincial and city police force.
