PESHAWAR: Many districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially the towns in Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu divisions, remained volatile throughout the current year, with an increase in attacks on police, security forces and civilians.
Several measures were taken during the last one year to improve law and order across KP, particularly in the southern districts, but the situation remained the same. The situation can be gauged from the fact that around 670 terrorism incidents were reported during 2024 which is highest in the last 15 years.
Only in 2009, 728 incidents were reported in KP after which the situation gradually improved till the start of the current wave of terrorism in mid-2021. Dera Ismail Khan district witnessed the highest number of terrorism incidents, 121, during this year, followed by 116 incidents in Bannu and 80 in Khyber district.
In the year 2024, as many as 149 policemen were martyred in different districts of the province while 232 others sustained injuries.The province’s political leadership, including incumbent governor Faisal Karim Kundi, has expressed concern over the law and order situation in KP on several occasions, stressing the need for joint efforts by the federal and provincial governments, police, and security forces to improve the situation.
On the other hand, according to the officials of the KP Police, 270 terrorists were killed while 802 others were arrested in encounters with police and security agencies. The officials said those killed and arrested included many who were carrying huge amounts as head money, including the commanders in Peshawar, Mardan and other districts.
The KP police officials said 132 accused were involved in extortion and 13 kidnappers were also arrested during the year 2024. Besides, the conviction rate in terrorism cases increased from 13 percent to 38 percent compared to last year.
Under the National Action Plan, 12,601 search and strike operations were conducted, and 67,983 suspects were arrested.Also, 81,433 snap-checking points were set up in which 102,952 suspects were arrested while 24,566 weapons of different bores and 552,837 cartridges were recovered.
Police officials claimed recovery of 28097 kg of different types of drugs in anti-narcotics campaigns and other operations.The dispute resolution councils disposed of 3452 cases out of 3715 applications received this year.
