4700 cops to provide security at 33rd National Games

PESHAWAR: A comprehensive security plan has been chalked out for the 33rd National Games being held in the provincial capital from November 10.

Peshawar is hosting the games after a gap of nine years. All sports events allocated to Peshawar had to be postponed or shifted to other cities due to the frequent terrorist incidents in the city and rest of the province in recent years. The situation has improved and now Peshawar and other cities in the province have been hosting major sports events.

“Around 4,700 policemen will be deployed for the security during the National Games in Peshawar. We have set up 40 entry points for use in different parts of the provincial capital during the period of the sports gala,” Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Mohammad Karim Khan told reporters at the Peshawar Sports Stadium on Wednesday.

The CCPO along with Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali Asghar,

Director General Sports Asfandyar Khattak, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Zahoor Afridi, SSP Traffic Kashif Zulfiqar and other officials earlier visited different sections of the stadium and inspected the security and traffic arrangements. Apart from the regular police, a number of traffic units will be deployed to ensure smooth flow of traffic during the games.

“Foolproof security arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful holding of the event in Peshawar. A special security audit was carried out before chalking out security plan for the games,” said Karim Khan. He added that police control room has been set up in the Peshawar Sports Stadium from where the security for the games would be supervised.

The CCPO said that the security plan had also been finalized for four other stadiums where some of the events of the National Games would be held. “Apart from the regular police and cops in civvies, the commandoes of Special Combat Unit will be deployed in and around the stadiums during the games and at the opening and closing ceremonies,” Karim Khan explained.

He said that search and strike operations were carried out in the vicinity of the stadiums in recent days to ensure security during the sports gala.

The 33rd National Games were earlier scheduled to be held from October 26. Thousands of male and female players would participate in 34 different disciplines in the biggest sports event of the country.

The National Games were postponed on the request of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. The Pakistan Olympic Association endorsed the decision and announced that the games would now be held from November 10-14. The concluding ceremony would be held on November 15.