ISLAMABAD: Police in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Saturday announced strict checking of all incoming vehicles to Peshawar city, citing security concerns during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Peshawar is KP's provincial capital that has witnessed frequent militant attacks in the past. At the height of extremist violence in the country, six gunmen belonging to a proscribed militant network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), targeted a school in the city and killed more than a hundred children in December 2014.
More recently, a suicide bombing at a mosque in a high-security police compound in Peshawar claimed 84 lives during a prayer congregation in January. Pakistan has also witnessed a sudden surge in militant attacks in other cities since last November, when TTP leaders unilaterally called off a fragile ceasefire with the government.
“In view of security concerns, blockades and snap checking have been further activated across the [Peshawar] district in the month of Ramadan,” the police said in a statement. “Strict checking of all incoming vehicles, motorcycles and persons will be carried out at the blockades. Snap checking and patrols have also been increased.”
The statement said search operations would also be intensified and involve different units of the law enforcement agency.
“The aim of the blockades is to ensure law and order situation in Peshawar city during which suspicious vehicles and suspects will be closely monitored,” Senior Superintendent Police Haroon Rashid Khan said.
He added that sub-divisional police officials would personally monitor the security arrangements during the special Ramadan Tarawih prayers at night across the district.
