31 new check posts form security belt around Peshawar

Police stand guard at one of the bomb-proof check posts set up at the boundary of the KP capital Peshawar. (Photo courtesy: Peshawar police)

• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police say bomb-proof posts will further improve law and order situation in city
• Work also underway to build eight watchtowers at Bacha Khan International Airport

PESHAWAR: While the Pakistan Army is fencing the country’s western border with Afghanistan to stop cross-border infiltrations by militants, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police has completed the set-up of 31 bomb-proof check posts around Peshawar.
The work to build this security belt started in March and the aim was to fortify and protect Peshawar from militant attacks launched from the tribal districts.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) for the provincial capital, Javed Iqbal, told Arab News the borders of Peshawar are in a crescent shape “and all these check posts have been set up along the borders to secure Peshawar.”
Iqbal added that the law and order situation in Peshawar and other areas of KP have changed remarkably in the last five years. “It has improved by almost 80 percent,” he said.
Each of the 31 new check posts contains a bomb-proof barracks, a basement and lockups. 
“We have also started the process to hire 967 policemen who would man these new check posts. Currently, we have deployed the available force there. But, once we get more personnel in, we would deploy them there,” Iqbal added.
Iqbal linked the law and order situation in Peshawar and KP to Afghanistan. “The fencing work at the Afghan border has curbed militants’ infiltration into Pakistan, and the new check posts in Peshawar would further improve the overall law and order situation in KP, particularly in Peshawar,” he said.
Police officials also said that work is underway to build eight security watchtowers at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar.
“Work is now underway to construct watchtowers on the runway — two at the take-off area and six towers in the landing area,” said police spokesman Muhammad Ilyas.
In June 2014, a woman passenger was killed and two crew members wounded when suspected militants fired at a Pakistan International Airlines plane from the ground at Bacha Khan International Airport.
Over the last decade, Peshawar has frequently faced attacks from Afghanistan and the tribal districts.
Muhammad Tahir, a former Peshawar capital city police officer, told Arab News that the proposal for establishing 31 check posts was put forward in 2016.
“The idea was to save Peshawar against any attacks from Frontier Regions before the merger, like Kohat, the outskirts of Peshawar, Khyber and Mohmand tribal districts.” said Tahir.