The top civil servant in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has said that the Taliban militancy has reached the provincial capital of Peshawar. The Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Mashriq quoted NWFP’s Interior Secretary Tipu Mohabbat Khan as saying that coordinated efforts are being made to stop the militancy.
According to the report, Mohabbat Khan said the situation has turned out to be a challenge for the policemen in the province. He said the police administration is recruiting about 15,000 youths into the provincial police force to meet the challenge of the emerging situation.
Mohabbat Khan is the second top official in the NWFP to warn of Taliban’s march toward capturing the city of Peshawar. Early this month, NWFP’s police chief Malik Naved Khan expressed concern that the Taliban would soon take over the control of Peshawar.
Source: Roznama Mashriq, Pakistan, June 18, 2008
