PESHAWAR: Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani, who was specially brought in from Punjab to bring positive changes in policing in the militancy-stricken Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has suggested that closing down nighttime flights at Peshawar airport is the only way to guarantee security of the planes and passengers.

Mr Durrani was working as additional inspector general (AIG) of police in the Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department before being assigned this special task of heading the police of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, just a day after one of the deadliest attacks on a church in Peshawar last year in September.

One year on, as the cases of targeted killings and extortion go on unchecked day and night, flights to and from Peshawar were affected after an attack on a plane at Bacha Khan International Airport (BKIA) at nighttime on June 25 this year. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government has been claiming to have brought in the current IGP for a model proactive policing in the province, but he has come up with a rather defensive strategy to secure flights.

The IGP’s recent letter to the chief secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reveals much about his strategies to counter terrorism.

IGP’s suggestion to close down nighttime flights reveals his ‘strategy’ to counter terrorism

“Investigation shows that all such attacks were carried out after sunset by militants from adjacent areas of Peshawar and Khyber Agency…it is therefore requested that the federal government may be reached for rescheduling the flights schedule for Bacha Khan International Airport in such a manner that the entire flight operation is completed during daytime,” wrote Mr Durrani.

If the IGP of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa comes to such a resolution for security-related matters of the provincial capital – also witnessing a rise in targeted killings and cases of extortion – then it seems businesses would be closed even at daytime.

“Confine all minorities so they don’t get killed. Stop doing business so that you don’t have to pay to the extortionists or close all banks so that there is no robbery. If this solution is applied to other security problems, we will have to close down everything,” says an outraged official source.

Citing security reasons, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had decided on Sept 30 that Haj flights from Peshawar’s BKIA would be operated in the daytime only. “The feedback (on security) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief could have been the reason for the CAA to decide so,” an official source said.

In the wake of firing on a PIA plane just before its landing at the airport in Peshawar on June 25 this year, there was a concern that international airlines might completely or partially suspend their flights to Peshawar. While airports around the world have traffic flow 24 hours, the new flights schedule here may affect over a million passengers who annually fly to and from Peshawar.

Besides the June 25 attack on a plane, there was one such unconfirmed and one confirmed – by the IGP to media – incident that had created so much alarm.

The nighttime flight operation was not stopped even after the deadliest attack on the airport in Dec 2012 when suicide bombers armed with rockets carried out the attack. Four civilians were killed and over 30 were wounded in the attack. However, the law-enforcement agencies had also responded and killed five militant attackers.  

The approach funnel areas for landing at BKIA at nighttime fall in the Frontier Region (FR), Peshawar, and FR Kohat on the South of Peshawar. Areas like Sulemankhel, from where the attack was feared to have originated, is in Peshawar and adjacent to the FR Peshawar, according to police.

Whereas the letter shows that the IGP knows very little about the landscape and geography of the city he is tasked to secure. 

“The provincial government has been kind enough to recruit a special force of 175 personnel to secure the funnel areas from where the attacks have originated. However, due to difficult terrain and dense forestation…total prevention of such attacks in future cannot be guaranteed,” says IGP in the letter which might be one of the reasons for the CAA to suspend flights at night at BKIA recently.

A visit to the airport funnel areas, including Darra Adamkhel, Sulemankhel and Badhber, would show that these areas are populated with people, not forests.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2014