PESHAWAR: Apart from maintaining peace and thwarting any terrorist bid, the all-time high incidents of street crimes, increasing sale of drugs and the corrupt practices within the force are some of the tough challenges for the new Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Karim Khan.
Thwarting terrorist attacks and maintaining peace has always been the toughest job for the police and other law-enforcement agencies in Peshawar.
However, the street crimes, the sale of drugs and reports of cops minting money from smugglers are some of the other challenges for the Peshawar Police administration.
The new Capital City Police Officer took charge a couple of days ago by replacing Qazi Jamilur Rehman, who was posted Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Special Branch.
Qazi Jamilur Rehman during his 14-month tenure took a number of steps to go after the street criminals and drug dealers and for tackling corrupt practices in the force.
Many gangs were busted and action was taken against erring cops. However, there is still a long way to go.The new city police chief Mohammad Karim Khan has already served in Peshawar as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations and SP Rural.
He was heading the Special Branch, an intelligence wing of the force, before being posted as CCPO. On Sunday, Karim Khan visited the Zangali checkpost to inspect the security measures.
Many believe that the biggest challenge for the new CCPO, who is considered to be a competent operational commander, would be to eliminate the large number of gangs involved in snatching, robberies, dacoities and burglaries.
A number of people were murdered or seriously wounded in Peshawar by the robbers and snatchers when they offered resistance.
These incidents happened in all parts of the provincial capital from Hayatabad to Chamkani and Matani to Mathra and Khazana.
The crime rate is high in the urban and suburban towns where people are being robbed almost every day at gunpoint. In many incidents, the gangsters open fire when anyone offers resistance.
People collecting money from currency dealers in Chowk Yadgar or banks were the main targets.
Apart from snatching, there have been incidents in the recent days in which armed men broke into houses and looted valuables and cash after making the entire family hostage.
In some cases, incidents of snatching are not reported by the police to show the seniors that everything is fine in their area of jurisdiction.
The increasing sale and use of ice, heroin, hashish, liquor and other drugs in the city is another challenge for the new city police chief.
The police force is said to have recovered 29 kilos of methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice” in the last few months. It is the highest ever recovery by the Peshawar Police.
However, the sale of ice and other drugs is continuing. In particular, the youth and students are being targeted by the drug dealers.
There are many gangs which are said to be selling drugs in the vicinity of public and private sectors colleges and universities.
Many police stations on the route from Khyber district to Nowshera and Punjab onward have been notorious for earning huge money from smugglers in the past years.
The gangs of smugglers always try to please the police force that can block their route through one or the other way despite knowing that the police have nothing to do with smuggling anymore.
There are reports that many senior and junior officers allegedly get a share in the money.
According to sources, the flow of money decreases when an honest officer is posted at the top and conveys a clear message to the force. Otherwise, things go out of control, earning a bad name for the entire police force.
It is to be seen in the coming days as to what measures the new CCPO and his SSP Operations Zahoor Afridi are able to take for tackling the criminal gangs and providing security to the people in the provincial capital.
