Worsening law, order triggers concerns as police post attacked in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Law and order situation in the provincial capital is worsening as another police post was attacked with three hand grenades, one of which went off without causing any casualty.

A police official said the Juma Khan Police Post in Nasir Bagh was attacked by the terrorists with hand grenades in the early hours of Monday.

“One of the hand grenades went off without causing any casualty. Two other explosives were defused by the bomb disposal unit after these did not go off,” Alam Khan, the spokesman for the Capital City P, told the media.

Superintendent of Police, Warsak, Jawad Ishaq, said the CCTV footages from the area were being collected to identify the attackers while a search operation is underway. An attack on the same police post was foiled a few days back when police observed the movement of six armed men through thermal imaging cameras close to the police building.

The cops had opened fire after which the attackers escaped. Explosives also went off close to a police armoured personnel carrier on Ring Road near Jamil Chowk last week. The blast damaged the vehicle but the cops inside remained safe. Besides, many policemen fell victim to targeted attacks in the provincial capital in the last few months.

In the latest attack on the cops, a policeman was martyred in the Nowshera district on Sunday. Some of his colleagues complained on social media that the senior officials, including the regional police officer and district police officer, even did not bother to attend the funeral prayers for the martyred cop, which discouraged many others who were fighting terrorists on the ground.

Many feared the law and order situation was worsening not only in the provincial capital but in other districts as well. In North and South Waziristan, after a long time, two schools for girls were bombed during the last few days, triggering concerns about the law and order situation in the southern districts as well.

Dera Ismail Khan, the hometown of KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, Lakki Marwat and several other southern towns have witnessed many attacks in the last many months. Police officials said the situation improved in Lakki and other southern districts after measures were taken in the recent weeks.