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| India-Pakistan | |
| Taliban threat: Police vacate posts, take positions in markets, shops | |
| 2008-08-11 | |
| Police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel on Sunday vacated four posts and a police station near Darra AdamKhel and took positions atop markets and shops to avoid attacks from militants. The police posts at Spina Thana, Arbab Tapoo, Sra Khwra and Zangali and the Matani Police Station have been vacated and the security personnel have taken positions on roofs of markets and shops to the dismay of business community in the area. Complaining about the presence of the security personnel in populated areas, retailers around Zangali Police Post near Dara Admakhel said they [security forces] were using the people as human shields against militant attacks.
Almost all the residents and shopkeepers in the area believed that the security forces had knowingly established bunkers in the populated areas to avoid militant attacks. Iftikhar, another shop owner recalled that his shop was gutted in a shootout between militants and security forces in the area some time back. "I was not compensated for my losses," he complained. He added that the security forces' presence in the market area was affecting business, as people preferred to go to Peshawar city instead. The shop owners asked the NWFP government to order the security forces to vacate the market. | |
| Posted by:Fred |