By Javed Aziz Khan
“We are planning to properly guard the villages sharing boundaries with the tribal areas and to improve the intelligence network in these areas to bust the gangs involved in rocket attacks on Peshawar,” the outgoing Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP-Coordination), Qazi Jamilur Rahman, told The News.
Peshawar has come under seven rocket attacks during the last eight days. In each attack, four to eight rockets were fired that hit residential buildings, factories and other places in Hayatabad, Badaber, Jamrud Road, Ring Road and other localities.
Chief of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) Mangal Bagh along with his commanders including Wahid and Saifur was charged with carrying out one of these rocket attacks on the city. However, no efforts were made to arrest him as he is in Khyber Agency where police have no control.
Though the LI has denied its involvement in rocket attacks on Peshawar, it is generally believed that Mangal Bagh-led militia and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Ansarul Islam were behind the rocket barrages.
“We are making efforts to prevent rocket attacks from our rural areas. However, the attacks are also carried out from tribal areas which come under the control of political administration,” said Qazi Jamilur Rahman.
Eight shells were fired at the city from the nearby Khyber Agency on September 16 some of which landed in Industrial Estate and Labour Colony in Hayatabad while others fell in Jamrud tribal area. Two persons sustained injuries when a shell landed inside a house in Hayatabad.
Four rockets were fired in the early hours on September 15, injuring a labourer and damaging two houses in Hayatabad and narrowly missing a police post on Jamrud Road.Nine more shells landed in different parts of the provincial metropolis in two successive attacks on September 13. Four of these shells were fired early in the morning while the rest were launched late Sunday night. A similar attack was carried out on September 11 in which six rockets were fired.
“Every night before going to sleep, we fear that rockets would hit our township. The frequent attacks have scared not only women and children but the entire population,” remarked Mushtaq Noorani, a resident of the Phase-II, Hayatabad.
Residents of other towns near Badaber and Pishtakhara are also frightened. “This practice needs to be brought to an end. I don’t know if our security forces can do this,” said Alamzeb Khan, a villager of Landi Akhun Mohammad.
Innumerable rockets have been fired at the provincial metropolis during the last few months. These have hit the Peshawar International Airport, offices of the security agencies, residences and innumerable public places. Five out of the six international airlines have diverted their flights to Islamabad following threats of rocket attacks.