KP police chief says armed forces won't tolerate terrorism in Pakistan

Inspector General of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Dr Sanaullah Abbasi said there was evidence that the Afghanistan government was involved in terrorist activities aimed at creating instability in Pakistan.

“However, the armed forces including the Pakistan Army, the Frontier Corps and police will not tolerate any violence in the territorial limits of Pakistan,” he said during an interview for the Geo News Programme ‘Jirga’ on Saturday.

“It is part of our record that extortion calls came from towers placed in Afghanistan. We have a one-year data of 78 calls that came from Afghanistan [for extortion]," he added. 

"We’ll make sure that the issue is taken up with the Financial Action Task Force once we have compiled the record [of phone calls]," he said, adding that this was beind gone so the government can keep a check on cross-border militancy from Afghanistan. 

Replying to question regarding involvement of the Afghan government in terrorism in Pakistan, he said the police has evidence that terrorists receive directions from across the border as they attempt to cause instability in Pakistan through terrorism.

Terrorist outfits regrouping in Afghanistan 

Replying to a question regarding terrorist outfits regrouping in Afghanistan, Abbasi said "the challenge is [still] there".

However, he said that the Pakistan Armed Forces, intelligence agencies and the police's CTD had joined hands and would thwart any activities aimed to destabilise Pakistan. 

He said that random incidents of terrorism had taken place but there had been no 'resurgence' of any terrorist outfit. Dr Abbasi said that this enough was proof of the police, armed forces and intelligence agencies' success. 

He reiterated the KP police are intently monitoring the new development in the region in the background of the merger of some terrorist groups.

Responding to a question, he said the targeted killings had been taking place in Swat every week since September last year. The KP police rounded up all the criminals and recovered the money they received from Afghanistan, he said.

Abbasi pointed out that a lot of cases of 'terrorism' were just people who were killing each other due to personal vengeance. He said that these acts of personal enmity often led to terrorism. 

Fata merger is extension of basic human rights

The police chief also spoke on the Fata merger, which he said was meant for a better future for the tribal people. “The Fata merger means the extension of civilian rule, especially police and judiciary, into the former Fata areas. It also means an extension of fundamental human rights to ex-Fata areas,” he said.

Abbasi said 29,000 Levies and Khasadar personnel have been absorbed in the KP police force.

He also said that the training process for these personnel has been started from this month. 

"We need assistance from the Pakistan Army and the FC as we are in the process of transition and capacity-building," he said.