Daily Times

Abbottabad division police to go with a horse-mounted special security squad instead of police mobiles for easy access to mountainous areas.

The newly posted Hazara division Regional Police Officer (RPO) Hazara Mir Vais Niaz while talking to the media on Tuesday said that police of Abbottabad division will have a horse-mounted squad to inaccessible mountainous areas with no proper roads.

The mounted police will be available for quick response in areas inaccessible by police vehicles and also patrol for patrolling the rugged terrain, he said.

Police on horses are nothing new in the area, law enforcers traversed the mountainous passes on mules and horses. However, urbanization ended the practice and the mounties were left only for the ceremonial guard and parade duties, he said.

The areas where road networks do not exist, like remote areas of Hazara Division, specially in Kohistan needs such force.

The new police chief of the Hazara division also highlighted his top priorities that includes to take action against drug dealers and land grabbers, and make all efforts to save children from harassment and abuse.

In addition to this, he said the vulnerable sections of the society need protection. The civil society, religious scholars and the media should play their role in creating awareness against sexual exploitation of children which was rampant in the region.

During the briefing, DIG Niaz said he has directed District Police Officers of the Hazara division to launch a crackdown against drug peddlers particularly those selling methamphetamine, commonly known as ice.

Better strategies and planning should be adopted to protect youth from substance abuse as well as to extract this poison from the society and to take legal action against drug peddlers and smugglers without any discrimination, the RPO said.

The social evil of usury is also prevailing in the society. People get trapped in the vicious claws of the money lenders then spend their whole life struggling to get out of this debt trap, he said. The Hazara division police have been directed to identify people running private lending services and arrest them under the Prohibition of Interest on Private Loans Act, 2016.

DIG Niaz said he has directed all the DPO’s of Hazara to take legal action against land grabbers who get the benefit of the poor land record system.