Thinking that trenches could protect the city against suicide vehicle attacks, the police have failed to conceptualise the reaction that may come from the villagers’ side. The villagers, considering the trenches a hurdle in their movement, fill the trenches dug by the police and the police’s defence against terrorists comes to an end before its start.
Aganist a backdrop of the Abbottabad operation, the decision to dig up trenches around the federal capital was taken by high-ups of Islamabad, fearing that terrorists could use unchecked routes for entering in the city. However, the rustics failed the city police’s highly ‘optimistic and pre-historic’ idea of defence against terrorists. They filled them the trenches every time the police dig them, seeing them as an attack on the villagers’ right to free passage and movement.
On May 20, former inspector general of police (IGP) Islamabad Wajid Durrani through a letter had directed all SPs to close the 109 non-metalled passages that linked the city with other parts by digging trenches and placing barricades to
stop un-checked vehicles’ entry. However, this move was strongly opposed by people living in the city’s outskirts.
A police source said that some trenches, which were dug up by police, were later filled by inhabitants of the area. “We dig trenches in the day and the local filled them at night,” the source said.
Muhammad Zeshan, Bhara Kahu local, while talking to Pakistan Today said that he and some of his friends filled a trench dug by the police in their area, as they had to take a longer route to reach
Murree Road. “Instead of digging trenches police should improve its intelligence and enhance security,” he suggested.
The city has 164 entry and exit points including 55 metalled roads and 109 non-metalled. According to the plan, trenches would be dug up on all non-metalled routes including in the areas of Nilor, Bhara Kahu, Sihala, Golra and Tarnol.
A senior police official, seeking anonymity, said that all the non-metalled roads and other passages were a link between the city and the villages located in the suburbs of the federal capital. Inspector General of Police Islamabad Bini Amin said that keeping in view the difficulties being confronted by the people police might discontinue this project.
