Pakistan: Police vulnerable to terrorist attacks

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 8 (ANI): Underfunded, ill-equipped, and barely trained police in Pakistan are quite vulnerable to terrorist attacks, reported The News International.

There are, arguably, few institutions in Pakistan where the ratio of respect to importance is more distorted than when it comes to the police.

They are chronically underfunded, ill-equipped, barely trained and ever the butt of public scorn and derision, reported The News International.

The first line of defence and response against crime, terrorism and natural disaster is in shambles.

One could come up with many examples that illustrate the state our police force finds itself in and the current situation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police is perhaps the most pertinent, reported The News International.

The KP police have lost around 125 officers less than five months into the year and over 200 have been injured, mostly in terrorist attacks. This means that the total number of deaths among KP police this year has already surpassed last year's total.

The recent spurt in clashes between terrorists and the police in Pakistan after the failure of a ceasefire with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) reflects the precarious security situation in the country.

The deadliest attack in 2023 was the Peshawar police lines blast in January, in which a suicide bomber killed over 80 personnel and injured over a hundred. The attack took place inside a mosque located in an, apparently, high-security zone of Peshawar that is home to the police headquarters.

Terrorism in Pakistan has been rearing its head again. Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country -- especially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has worsened -- with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country.

The KP police, due to geography, is the most vulnerable to terrorist attacks, reported The News International.

KP is at the epicentre of war on terror, making its police Pakistan's first line of defence against terrorists.

Since the Afghan Taliban took power across the border, there have been countless reports of terrorist outfits, principally the TTP, organizing and launching attacks.

Furthermore, attempts to improve the KP and other provincial police forces are unlikely to have the desired success without a coherent policy to coordinate these efforts at the national level, reported The News International. (ANI)