PESHAWAR: Politicians and government officials are among a large number of people from the provincial capital and other districts who have received calls for extortion as well as messages carrying other kinds of threats over the last many months.
As the law and order situation has worsened in the last few months, houses, offices, and other establishments of a few of these people were also attacked with grenades, mostly causing damage but no casualties.
“The trend of calls and messages by extortionists as well as other groups carrying various kinds of threats, has increased in the last few months. The people who received these calls included politicians, senior and junior government officers, well-off people, contractors, and others,” a source told The News.
He said these groups had remained inactive for some time, but had become active again following the deterioration in the law and order situation. Though most of these cases were reported to the local police and the Counter Terrorism Department, the cops, as usual, only advised the victims to take precautionary measures.
The victims had to take security measures on their own after no practical help was provided by the police and CTD. The cops said they were using technology and would bust the network soon. “Those receiving threatening calls and messages apparently from militants are working in different departments in Peshawar, Khyber, Bajaur, southern districts, and other towns. They have restricted their movements and have taken measures to ensure the security of their families,” a source said.
He added that police only lodged roznamcha and forwarded the cases to CTD, which is tracing these phone and WhatsApp numbers from which calls and messages were made. One message or call disturbs the entire family for many months as they all have to take extra care while at home or leaving for office, school, market, etc.
In some incidents, the houses of few people were also attacked with grenades.In Peshawar, the house of a member of the provincial assembly, Fazal Ilahi, was attacked with grenade a few weeks back. There was no casualty in the incident. It was the third attack on his house in the last few years.
Last week, the house of another MPA, Riaz Shaheen, was attacked with a grenade in Kurram tribal district. The house of MNA from Bajaur, Mubarak Zeb, was attacked thrice with grenades and rockets over the last few months.
Besides, houses, hujras of many officials, including policemen, have been attacked several times with grenades and explosives in southern districts during the current year. Several police posts, police stations and offices were also attacked with grenades in many districts in the last few months.
Many politicians and officials avoid going to their hometowns due to threats and the worsening law and order situation in their areas.Security advisories were also issued to several political and religious personalities during the last few weeks, asking them to be vigilant and call the police in case of any issue.
A source said that an increase had been witnessed in cases of threatening calls and messages across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent months. The KP CTD had set up an exclusive cell against extortion as well as threat calls and messages a few years back.
The main hurdle the KP Police face while going after the extortionists is the phone calls from non-local numbers, internet-generated resources, illegal gateways, and WhatsApp numbers. Apart from various groups, criminal rings were also found to be involved in many calls.
It was learnt that during the last few years, hundreds of Afghan and international phone numbers and illegal gateways were used for making extortion calls. These numbers and illegal gateways have been shared with the relevant quarters many times to take it up at the relevant forums. A mutual legal agreement and certain protocols are required to access the offices in other countries from where internet-supported social media calls are generated. The agreement will make it easier to collect information from these resources in the event of such calls.
Police have also repeatedly asked the government and relevant departments over the years to take up with the Afghan authorities the issue of Afghan cellular numbers being used in such crimes. Most of the calls and threatening messages are reportedly made through phones carrying Afghan numbers.
