BARA: Atop a police outpost in northwest Pakistan, Faizanullah Khan stands behind a stack of sandbags and peers through the sight of an anti-aircraft gun, scanning the terrain along the unofficial boundary with the country's restive former tribal areas.
On this cold and rainy February morning, he was looking not for aircraft but for Islamist fighters behind attacks against his force, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial police.
It was daytime, so he could relax a bit, said Khan, an assistant sub-inspector, as he sat down on a traditional woven bed. But night was a different story, he said, pointing to pock marks left by bullets fired at the outpost, named Manzoor Shaheed, or Manzoor the Martyr, after a colleague felled by insurgents years ago.
The outpost is one of dozens that provide defence against militants waging a fresh assault on Pakistan's police from hideouts in the border region adjoining Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The area, part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, is a hotbed for fighters of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of Sunni Islamist groups.
The threat the insurgency poses to nuclear-armed Pakistan was illustrated last month when the bombing of a mosque in Peshawar killed more than 80 police personnel. A faction of the TTP, Jamat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility.
Visiting northwest Pakistan this month, Reuters gained access to police outposts and spoke to more than a dozen people, including senior police officials, many of whom described how the force is suffering increasing losses as it bears the brunt of insurgent attacks while contending with resourcing and logistical constraints.
Pakistani officials acknowledge these challenges but say they are trying to improve the force's capability amid adverse economic circumstances.
'STOPPED THEIR WAY'
Police here have fought Islamists for years - more than 2,100 personnel have been killed and 7,000 injured since 2001 - but never have they been the focus of militants' operations as they are today.
"We've stopped their way to Peshawar," assistant sub-inspector Jameel Shah of Sarband station, which controls the Manzoor Shaheed outpost, said of the militants.
Sarband and its eight outposts have suffered four major attacks in recent months and faced sniper fire with unprecedented frequency, according to police based there.
Killings of police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa rose to 119 last year, from 54 in 2021 and 21 in 2020. Some 102 have been slain already this year, most in the mosque bombing but some in other attacks. Elsewhere, militants stormed a police office in Karachi on Feb. 17, killing four before security forces retook the premises and killed three assailants.
The TTP, known as the Pakistani Taliban, pledges allegiance to the Afghan Taliban but is not directly a part of the group that rules in Kabul. Its stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan.
A TTP spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, told Reuters its main target was Pakistan's military, but the police were standing in the way.
"The police have been told many times not to obstruct our way, and instead of paying heed to this the police have started martyring our comrades," he said. "This is why we are targeting them."
The military has conducted operations alongside the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police and faced TTP attacks, with three soldiers confirmed dead in the province this year, according to data released by the military's public relations wing, which did not address questions from Reuters about military casualties.
On Monday, two soldiers were killed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in a firefight with militants, the military said in a statement.
In December, the TTP released a video purportedly recorded by one of its fighters from mountains around the capital, Islamabad, showing Pakistan's parliament building. "We are coming," said a note held by the unidentified fighter.
The TTP wants to show that its fighters can strike outside their current areas of influence, said Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank. While their ability may be limited, he said, "propaganda is a big part of this war and the TTP are getting good at it".
'SITTING DUCKS'
The police in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which neighbours Islamabad, say they are up for the fight, but point to a lack of resources.
"The biggest problem is the number of personnel, which is a little low," said Shah, of Sarband station, which has 55 people - including drivers and clerks - for the station and eight affiliated outposts. "This is a target area, and we're absolutely face-to-face with (the militants)."
Days before Reuters visited Sarband, a senior police official was ambushed and killed outside the station during a firefight with militants. The attack demonstrated the firepower of the insurgents, who, according to Shah, used thermal goggles to target the officer in darkness.
It wasn't the first time. About a year ago, the TTP released a video of its snipers using thermal imaging to take out unsuspecting security personnel.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters about the insurgency, told local TV this month that militants saw the police as "soft targets" because their public-facing role made it easier to penetrate their facilities.
Zahid Hussain, a journalist and author of books on Islamist militancy, said the police were more vulnerable than the military, given their resources and training.
"I mean, they're sitting ducks there," Hussain said.
'LETHAL WEAPONS'
Moazzam Jah Ansari, who was chief of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's police when he spoke to Reuters this month but has since been replaced, said militant strategies had been evolving.
"They try and find more effective ways to conduct military operations, more lethal weapons," he said.
Militants have procured U.S.-made M4 rifles and other sophisticated weapons from stocks left by Western forces that exited Afghanistan in 2021, police officials said. Some police guards told Reuters they had seen small reconnaissance drones flying over their outposts.
Khurasani, the TTP spokesman, confirmed that the group was using drones for surveillance.
Several police officials at Sarband station said the provincial government and military provided them and other outposts with thermal goggles in late January to aid the fight. But they encountered another problem.
"About 22 hours of the day we have power outages... there's no electricity to charge our goggles," Shah told Reuters at Sarband.
The station has one rooftop solar panel, which officers paid out of their own pockets to install, according to station chief Qayyum Khan. One policeman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of disciplinary action, said police use their vehicles or go to a petrol station equipped with a back-up generator to charge their goggles.
Police said they had taken other protection measures, including erecting rudimentary walls to guard against sniper fire, and procuring bulletproof glass from a market that sells equipment left behind by U.S.-led forces.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Reuters spoke to four other senior officials and more than a dozen lower-ranking officers, all of whom said the provincial force was neglected despite its key role. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of disciplinary action.
Required resources were not forthcoming, and their pay and perks were inferior to that of counterparts elsewhere in Pakistan, let alone the military, these officials told Reuters.
"Do the police need more resources? They absolutely do," said Taimur Jhagra, who was provincial finance minister until January, when a caretaker administration took over ahead of elections.
Jhagra said his government helped the police as much as it could with pay raises and procuring equipment such as goggles, despite fiscal constraints. Pakistan's debt-ridden economy has been in a tailspin for over a year, and the country is trying to slash spending to avoid default.
"Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa pays a greater price for that" because of its exposure to the Islamist militants, he said.
Ansari, the former police chief, said resources had improved, but tended to come reactively when a threat emerged, rather than as sustained support. He, too, attributed this to economic circumstances, but added that things were not as bad as some suggested.
'SEETHING ANGER'
After Western forces left Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistan sought a truce with the TTP, resulting in a months-long ceasefire and negotiations brokered by the Afghan Taliban. As part of the effort, many militants from Afghanistan were resettled in Pakistan.
The TTP ended the ceasefire in November 2022, and regrouped militants restarted attacks in Pakistan soon after.
Following the Peshawar bombing, police personnel held public protests where some voiced anger against their leadership, the provincial and national governments, and even the military, calling for more resources and clarity on the policy of fighting the militants. Ansari acknowledged a "deep sense of loss" and "seething anger" in the force in the wake of the attack.
At the site of the blast, police personnel gathered on a recent day to remember their fallen comrades. The imam, a police employee who lost his brother in the attack, prayed for the success of the force.
Behind the mosque, Daulat Khan, an assistant sub-inspector, and eight relatives live in cramped police quarters comprising a 25-square-metre space with only one room. Around him are crumbling, blast-damaged walls.
"Everyone can see the sacrifices of the police, but nothing is done for us," he said, pointing to rows of century-old, British-colonial era quarters. "You see the conditions in front of you."
Outside, open sewage canals lined the alleyways.
DIFFERENT BATTLE
Pakistan's military effectively dismantled the TTP and killed most of its top leadership in a string of operations from 2014 onwards, driving most of the fighters into Afghanistan, where they regrouped.
But the nature of the fight has changed in recent months, which partly shows why the police, not the military, are at the forefront. The militants were now spread in smaller groups across the country and among the civilian population, instead of operating from bases in former tribal areas, analysts said.
The military has also been stretched by another insurgency in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where separatists are targeting state infrastructure and Chinese investments.
The defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the armed forces' role in resisting Islamists in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Miles from the flashpoints, meanwhile, police graduates receive six-month crash courses in anti-militant operations at the vast Elite Police Training Centre in Nowshera.
The personnel, including women, learn how to conduct raids, rappel from buildings and use rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns, which they unleash on a model of a militant training camp.
But beyond the training school's walls, there is no stationary militant camp, attacks come at night, and police are often on their own.
Faizanullah Khan said that, on some nights at his outpost, militants call out to him or his fellow guards. "They say 'we see you; lay down your arms'," he said.
The guards sometimes reply, he said, by firing their guns into the darkness.
Reuters
Mon Feb 27 2023
Police officers practice target shooting during a training session at the Elite Police Training Centre in Nowshera, Pakistan. - REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz
Fokus Minggu Depan: Solidariti Gaza Merentasi Bangsa dan Agama
Break The Siege: Fokus Minggu Depan membincangkan topik Solidariti Gaza Merentasi Bangsa dan Agama susulan penangguhan misi penghantaran bantuan ke Gaza anjuran Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).
Misi ditangguh, delegasi Malaysia berlepas pulang
Delegasi Malaysia dalam misi Break The Siege Freedom Flotilla To Gaza akan berlepas pulang malam ini.
Keputusan dicapai selepas Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) tidak dapat meneruskan misi selepas Republik Guinea-Bissau menarik balik kebenaran menggunakan bendera untuk dua kapal yang digunakan.
Laporan lanjut bersama Syaff Shukri di Istanbul.
Keputusan dicapai selepas Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) tidak dapat meneruskan misi selepas Republik Guinea-Bissau menarik balik kebenaran menggunakan bendera untuk dua kapal yang digunakan.
Laporan lanjut bersama Syaff Shukri di Istanbul.
Mahmoud Abbas menyeru semua negara iktiraf Palestin
Presiden Palestin Mahmoud Abbas menyeru semua negara untuk mengiktiraf Palestin sebagai negara merdeka serta mengiktiraf ahli penuh Persatuan Bangsa Bangsa Bersatu (PBB). Beliau diberi peluang berucap di Mesyuarat Khas Forum Ekonomi Dunia (WEF) di Arab Saudi hari ini.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: Rangkuman hari pertama, tiga kayu ukur ekonomi perlu ada
Jurang pemulihan ekonomi menjadi modal mula mesyuarat khas World Economic Forum di Riyadh.
Bagi Malaysia, kelebihan asean di ketengahkan, manakala negara maju mahu keadaan ekonomi yang lebih sekata.
Persoalan besar adalah bagaimana titik keseimbangan dapat dicapai?
Najib Aroff bawakan laporan.
Bagi Malaysia, kelebihan asean di ketengahkan, manakala negara maju mahu keadaan ekonomi yang lebih sekata.
Persoalan besar adalah bagaimana titik keseimbangan dapat dicapai?
Najib Aroff bawakan laporan.
SPRM mohon maklumat dari Jerman berhubung dana 1MDB disyaki beli kereta mewah
Ia berhubung laporan kereta mewah dirampas oleh pihak berkuasa Jerman di Munich yang dipercayai berkait dengan kes 1MDB.
P.Pinang kerjasama dengan Persekutuan teruskan usaha tarik pelaburan semikonduktor
Kerajaan Pulau Pinang akan bekerjasama dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk meneruskan usaha menarik pelaburan dalam sektor semikonduktor, termasuk segmen reka bentuk litar bersepadu (IC) di negeri itu.
Akta baharu berkuat kuasa 1 Jun
Akta Keselamatan Dan Kesihatan Pekerjaan (Pindaan) 2022 akan berkuat kuasa pada 1 Jun ini sekali gus meningkatkan lagi tahap keselamatan dan kesihatan di tempat kerja di seluruh negara, kata Menteri Sumber Manusia Steven Sim.
Pelaburan baharu memberi cabaran baharu kepada Malaysia
Pelaburan baharu yang diterima Malaysia memberi cabaran baharu khususnya dalam memberi fokus dalam bidang teknologi dan juga Latihan dan Pendidikan Teknikal dan Vokasional (TVET).
AWANI Borneo [28/04/2024] – Daftar di Yayasan Sarawak | Kos ganti paip RM9 bilion | Tarikan Kitaro
Laporan berita padat dan ringkas dari Borneo bersama Assim Hassan
#AWANIBorneo 28 April 2024
- Kerajaan Sarawak tanggung kos pelajaran anak mendiang Joanna
- Kebocoran paip penyumbang utama air tidak terhasil
- Kitaro magnet tarik pengunjung RWMF 2024
#AWANInews
#AWANIBorneo 28 April 2024
- Kerajaan Sarawak tanggung kos pelajaran anak mendiang Joanna
- Kebocoran paip penyumbang utama air tidak terhasil
- Kitaro magnet tarik pengunjung RWMF 2024
#AWANInews
Kesatuan Ragbi Malaysia harap individu disyaki pecah amanah didakwa segera
Kesatuan Ragbi Malaysia (KRM) berharap individu di sebalik isu pecah amanah disyaki berlaku dalam pengendalian akaun bank badan induk itu didakwa segera.
Presiden Iran, Pakistan adakan pertemuan luas kerjasama
Presiden Iran, Ebrahim Raisi mengadakan pertemuan dengan Presiden Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, di kediaman rasmi Presiden di Islamabad dalam lawatan tiga hari beliau ke negara tersebut pada Isnin.
Hampir 100 maut di Pakistan ekoran hujan lebat dan banjir kilat
Hujan lebat mengakibatkan banjir kilat di Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan dan Wilayah Punjab serta Jammu dan Kashmir.
Pakistan sambut Aidilfitri hari ini, Bangladesh dan India rai Khamis
Umat Islam di Pakistan dan Sri Lanka meraikan Aidilfitri pada Rabu manakala mereka yang berada di Bangladesh dan sebahagian besar India akan menyambut perayaan itu Khamis.
Pakistan kecam serangan Israel ke atas kedutaan Iran di Syria
Pakistan mengecam sekeras-kerasnya serangan Israel ke atas kedutaan Iran di ibu negara Syria, Damsyik pada Isnin menyifatkannya sebagai peningkatan ketegangan di rantau bergolak itu.
PM Pakistan larang penggunaan karpet merah dalam acara rasmi
Larangan penggunaan permaidani merah dalam acara rasmi merupakan satu langkah kecil ke arah mengurangkan perbelanjaan di peringkat kerajaan.
5 pekerja China terbunuh dalam serangan pengganas di Pakistan
Kejadian berlaku apabila sebuah kenderaan dari Projek Hidroelektrik Dasu, yang sedang dibina oleh sebuah syarikat China diserang oleh pengganas.
Ishaq Dar dilantik sebagai Menteri Luar Pakistan
Bekas Menteri Kewangan Ishaq Dar dilantik sebagai Menteri Luar Pakistan yang baharu.
Umat Islam di Bangladesh, India dan Pakistan mula berpuasa pada Selasa
Arab Saudi mengumumkan anak bulan kelihatan pada Ahad dan Isnin merupakan hari pertama Ramadan.
Shehbaz Sharif angkat sumpah Perdana Menteri Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif mengangkat sumpah sebagai perdana menteri ke-24 Pakistan untuk penggal kedua pada Isnin.
Hujan lebat di Pakistan ragut 29 nyawa, 50 cedera
Sekurang-kurangnya 29 orang terbunuh dan 50 lagi cedera akibat hujan lebat yang melanda Pakistan dalam tempoh 48 jam lepas.