Lahore is still reeling from the horrifying incident of terrorism and the operation that followed recently at a desolate neighbourhood in Raiwind, barely two kilometres away from the residence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The terrorists, later identified as members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had come in the guise of a family from Arayan Village, Firdaus Colony, and got a double-storey house on rent. They had obviously planned to target the Premier and terrorise the auspicious occasions of Youm-e-Ali and the (upcoming) Eidul Fitr.

It is believed that they develop sanctuaries in ‘rented’ houses that appear to be the best hideouts for them.

Clearly, the terrorists are on the loose but the law enforcement agencies are not alert enough to rise up to the challenge, which is why certain important information shared by the intelligence goes unheeded.

For its part, the police has only been going about the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), pushing the common people to keep their eyes out for any unusual or suspicious activity in their neighbourhood. The real estate and house owners have been informed -- albeit in an informal way -- to keep the police posted about the arrival or departure of any new tenants. In reality, all this is just an eye-wash.

Reportedly, Lahore boasts about 1 million rented houses whereas the police possesses the data of only around 50 thousands houses. Even this data is not considered authentic.

The people are also not properly sensitised about their neighbours. They do not bother to know who are the new entrants, what is their business and job and what are their family and social circles. In the absence of a concerned law, the rental data system and tenant registration process are toyed with.

The story behind the Raiwind incident reveals that a young man named Hafiz Imran had got a house on rent where he planted a terrorist group whose presence and movements remained unnoticed. Neither the police nor the house owner got around to sharing any information on the tenants ever. Initially, the rent was fixed at Rs2,500 per month but it was doubled once the owner came to know that a man named Ahsan Mahboob had accommodated a family from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Upon receiving a tip from an accomplice arrested in another case, the Punjab Police, the Elite force and Rangers jointly raided the house which led to a 12-hour long shootout. Two terrorists were killed and one taken into custody. The owner of the house was also arrested and an FIR lodged.

Further raids are being conducted in and around the area to nail more terrorists. But the mastermind of the incident remains at large -- till the filing of this report.

Additional IG Sarmad Saeed claimed a huge cache of ammunition, weapons and explosives with provocative literature had been recovered from the rented house. Punjab Law Minister Rana Mashud said that the terrorists wanted to target the PM as revenge for Operation Zarb-e-Azb. "But the government will spare no effort to wipe out them," he added.

Meanwhile intelligence reports disclosed that terrorists had safe pockets within the Police. "There are 17 police pickets including those in Johar Town, at Bhobatian Chowk, Sattukala, Jati Umra Chowk and on Kahna Road where round-the-clock checking goes on. How is it possible to transfer heavy explosives and ammunition to a terrorist hideout in Pind Arayian?" the report asked.

Sources in Police warn that the locals should be "ready for incidents such as the Raiwind one" as terrorists are pouring in and the system is yet to bridge the gaps that exist between the law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

On July 12, the Home Department received the intelligence that suspects were infiltrating in Raiwind but the police did not act. Reports claim that Punjab has 142 terrorist hideouts where around 9,000 active members of defunct outfits operate directly or indirectly. "Besides they have sympathisers in around 170 educational institutions," it was said..

Terrorists have to bank on telephonic communication and team-based network in various locations in order to spread their tentacles. This has proved to be their undoing, as over the last one year, as per sources, almost 340 arrests have been made by tracing calls. The police captured 130 terrorists from such tip-offs. Unprecedented clues or links leading to the terrorists’ arrest are found during investigation with people who are taken into police custody on minor crimes. Raiwind operation was launched on a tip from women arrested in Okara.

Over the last 10 years, it is general practice that the police issue a circulation, every two or three months, to the SHOs of 86 police stations for security reasons in order to ensure display of banners at important places that instruct real estate businessmen to compile data of tenants and the records to be provided to police. House owners are also told to inform the nearest police station in writing when renting out their places.

Seeking anonymity, a senior police official says that tenant registration is an exercise which is not quite likely to yield positive results until a separate staff is allocated for the purpose. "The police cannot do the job with meagre staff," he says.

He claims that tenant registration is a futile exercise as the terrorists do not rent out houses; instead, their facilitators and handlers do the job and these people can only be tracked down through a strong intelligence network.

However, SHO Township Sabtain Shah says that the police is vigilant enough with regards to the tenant documentation process. "We hold meetings with different mohallah committees, union council administrations, opinion leaders, social agents, real estate people and even interact with the public to sensitise them on the issue."

SHO Racecourse Mian Muhammad Qadeer claims the data collection process has yielded results. "It has helped us to capture many suspects on public complaints."

In the past, the Sindh government slapped a ban on purchase and sale or hiring of real estate without verification of credentials of the buyers/tenants by the National Database Registration Authority, in the wake of the PNS-Mehran attack. We haven’t learnt our lesson from history; the authorities don’t look like they are going to do the same in Punjab.

The people have also found to be negligent in this regard. The basic problem lies in the widening gap between the public and the police. A majority of people do not trust the police personnel. They are harassed and intimidated for one reason or the other. The basic problem lies in the widening gap between the public and the police.

"Alienation is deep-rooted," says Khurram Jut, a resident of Jati Umra, Raiwind. "We are told by our elders to back off as both friendship and enmity with the police is dangerous."

Real estate owner Haris Chaudhry says that the rental date was deliberately hidden and not shared with the police in order to avoid taxes incurred upon such transactions by the Excise Department. (Taxes vary from Rs5,000-Rs30, 000 as per the size of plot and building location categorised by the department.) Astonishingly, the Excise and Taxation Department also lack complete data about rented houses.

Senior Excise official Hafiz Zia says the department has data of almost 0.4 million rented housing units. "A survey to identify the houses on rent is carried out every five years, and a new survey has recently begun. Data is collected through a door-to-door campaign," he explains.

DIG Operation Waqas Nazeer says, "We do not have any law that would bind anyone to document rented transactions and update the police, a negligence of which should be registered against them.

"Tenant registration drive is done as a precautionary measure. We ask the people to get police verification before renting out their house. This is to discourage the terrorists and their handlers from getting into your neighbourhood."