QUETTA: The provincial administration of Balochistan has formed a special police squad, the Eagle Force, to protect the Hazara and Christian communities in the city’s violence-prone neighborhoods, a senior police officer told Arab News on Tuesday.
“We already had a trained elite force of 400 policemen. The Pakistan Army has now trained them to use motorcycles to patrol the streets of the city,” Deputy Inspector General Police Quetta, Abdul Razzaq Cheema, told Arab News.
“We have got 100 motorcycles for the force. Since two members of the Eagle force will use one vehicle, 200 members of the force will be able to patrol the city at one time, covering its vulnerable areas,” he explained.
He added that 400 policemen, equipped with bulletproof jackets and helmets, would be deployed in two shifts. The idea, he said, was to ensure a robust response to targeted killings.
Cheema said that militants were mostly targeting the members of law enforcement agencies and members of the Hazara community.
“Christians are also being attacked,” he said, adding that the new force aimed to protect members of these vulnerable communities.
He added that the force was trained to provide a befitting response to terrorists.
“We can take steps, work hard and make efforts. We have taken special physical measures and will continue to do so. However, we can’t say that the menace of targeted killing will come to a complete end,” he said.
On April 2 this year, four men from a Christian family were gunned down in the city’s Shah Zaman neighborhood. Within two weeks, on April 15, two more Christian community members were killed in Isa Nagri.
On April 28, unknown assailants killed two men from the Hazara community at Jamal-ud-Din Afghani Road. Earlier that month, two members of the Hazara community, including a shopkeeper, were also killed.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News last month, Abdul Qadoos Bizenjo said that violence in the province had been declining and “peace has been restored.”
He vowed to bring about total peace in the province so that the people of Balochistan could benefit from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
