Operation underway in Punjab-KP: After some well-armed members of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked a police station in the area in the middle of the night, the Punjab police on Wednesday morning began a massive counterterrorism operation in the difficult-to-reach steep portions of the Mianwali district.
A meeting attended by the chief secretary, the inspector general of police, the leaders of the intelligence agencies, and many regional and district police officers approved the operation.
According to a new policy named HITS, Hunt, Impede, Thwart, and Serve, we have grounded many field formations of the Punjab police.
The police had announced that this HITS operation wouldn’t end until all armed militants had been driven out of the Mianwali district.
He vowed that this force will deal with the terrorists in a deterring manner and drive them out of the Punjab region.
The police had decided to initiate a “large-scale and sustainable” operation against the terrorists responsible for the late-night attack on the Makkarwal police station in Mianwali.
During the conference of security officials, held hours after the attack, they made several significant choices, created a set of guidelines, and developed plans to ensure collaboration among security apparatus against the TTP’s presence in Punjab.
“Multi-Unit Police Operation Launched to Strike TTP Hideouts in Mianwali, Punjab”
DIG Ahsan Younis, given a crucial role in the police operation, reports that highly trained police officers and commandos from the three regions, counterterrorism department, special protection unit, and elite force are participating in the operation.
He told Dawn that to strike the hideouts of the TTP fighters in the difficult terrain, they transferred personnel and logistical resources from other parts of the Punjab province to Mianwali.
The officer noted that Makkarwal was the closest police station to the hilly terrain from which the TTP’s armed members launched the offensive.
DIG Younis stated that hours before the late-night attack, which the police were able to “repel,” intelligence sources had informed the Makkarwal police about the movement of the armed individuals in the nearby hilly areas.
When a gunner from a nearby hillside started firing, police officers who had been put on high alert immediately returned fire. Suddenly, he stated, the firing increased from several directions. He explained that the staff managed to repel the onslaught by acting quickly to block terrorists from moving closer to the police station.
Additionally, according to DIG Younis, the militants took advantage of the cover of darkness to escape detection and disappear into the hilly area.
Terrain
Furthermore, the DIG stated that an operation against militants has been ongoing in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders the steep terrain starting in Mianwali’s Makkarwal area and extending for 300 to 400 kilometers.
In order to develop a plan to assault the terrorist hideouts, who snuck into the Mianwali district during the night to attack the police station, Punjab police has also shared information with KP’s law enforcement authorities, the official claimed.
He claimed that on Wednesday morning, the chief of the Punjab police arrived in the Mianwali district, met with officers from the Makkarwal police station, and gave them each Rs3.5 million as a monetary incentive for acting quickly and thwarting the TTP attack.
IG Anwar directed the creation of 40 mobile police posts in the area and instructed concerned agencies to finish the construction of the police building for the Makkarwal police to relocate there.