Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: As part of a new security plan, Islamabad police have established 25 checkpoints for snap-checking after the last week’s suicide attack on I-10/4 that left one cop dead and six others including four policemen injured.
Under the security plan, the police have made it mandatory for the citizens to carry with them necessary identification documents including national identity for security checks.
Police Checkpoints
The security strategy, which was posted on the official Twitter account of Islamabad police, states that safe city cameras will record entry points at the red zone and passengers of metro bus stations.
Foreigners and locals have been urged by the police to have their identification documents with them. Additionally, authorities issued warnings about non-specimen number plates and unregistered vehicles, advising citizens to check that their vehicles had license plates produced by the excise office.
Additionally, as part of this strategy, landlords and employers must register both their tenants and staff at a nearby khidmat marakiz or police station (facilitation center).
Check on Household Workers
Citizens who had hired unregistered local or foreign workers, according to the police, would also be looked into. They urged people to call the 15-helpline if they noticed any odd activity and to report it to the authorities.
This strategy was developed in response to the recent rise in terror attacks in Pakistan, particularly following the militant Tehereek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s termination of the cease-fire with the government in late November.
Last Friday’s bombing in the I-10 sector of the capital, which killed one police officer and injured six others, was the first significant act of terrorism to occur in Islamabad since the beginning of the recent wave of militancy, which was initially contained to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Due to fears of a “possible attack,” the US embassy in Islamabad issued a security alert two days after the explosion, preventing its staff from visiting the Marriott Hotel in the city. The capital’s security had been put on high alert that day by Islamabad police.
Additionally, on Monday, separate security alerts from Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Australia urged their citizens to restrict travel in Pakistan.
