Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s new police chief Zulfiqar Hameed faces a huge challenge to improve the worsening law and order situation in the province, especially the southern districts.
Besides, the unprecedented increase in the use of ice, heroin and other drugs as well as the gun culture and innumerable blood feuds that claim hundreds of lives every year pose a serious challenge to the new police administration. Things started deteriorating in mid-2021 after mostly peace prevailed in KP for years.
Even the police headquarters of the provincial capital came under attack when a suicide bomber detonated explosives around his vest at the central mosque of the Police Lines in January 2023. Over 86 policemen were martyred and more than 200 were wounded in the biggest attack on the force.
Two divisions in southern KP, Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu, have remained volatile for years. The Kurram district in the Kohat division, the third southern division of KP, has been facing serious law and order issue since November last year.
The Kohat division was relatively peaceful before the situation deteriorated in its Kurram district after an attack on a convoy in November where several civilians lost their lives. Actions are underway in Kurram but more solid and durable measures are needed to restore peace in the district permanently. The government said a number of measures have been taken in the last few years to improve law and order in KP, particularly DI Khan and Bannu divisions, but despite that police, security forces and civilians continued coming under attacks frequently.
There were videos on social media that showed armed men setting up check-posts in some areas where motorists were being stopped to check their identity. KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman belong to DI Khan in southern KP. Senior politicians have criticised the government for failing to establish its writ in many districts.
The official statistics revealed that though the number of casualties was not as high as was in 2009/10, around 670 terrorism incidents were reported during 2024 which is the highest in the last 15 years. Before that, 728 terror incidents were reported in KP in 2009.
The situation gradually improved after 2013/14 till the start of the current wave of terrorism in mid-2021.As per the official figures of 2024, DI Khan district witnessed the highest number of terrorism incidents, 121, followed by 116 incidents in Bannu and 80 in Khyber district in Peshawar division.
In the year 2024, as many as 149 policemen were martyred in different districts of the province while 232 others sustained injuries. The number of police martyrs was 186 in 2023. Police offices, police stations and posts in several districts of KP, especially in southern districts, came under attack on in the last few years.
According to the official figures of the KP Police, 270 terrorists were killed while 802 others were arrested in encounters with police and security agencies in 2024. The figures stated those killed and arrested included many who were carrying head money, including the millitants in Peshawar, Mardan and other districts.
The new police administration needs to launch aggressive operations against the ice and other drug dealers, manufacturers and traffickers. Serious actions are required as well against the gangs and individuals promoting gun culture and terrorising people to grab lands and commit other crimes.
The jirgas and dispute resolution councils need to be strengthened with upright and effective members to settle blood feuds that claim innumerable lives every year. The top challenge is to ensure the registration of cases since the police stations avoid lodging most of the first information reports.
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