Karachi: Pakistan Railways tightened security for railway stations and tracks in insurgency-hit areas across the country ahead of Eid anticipating a big rush of people travelling home for the festival.
Insurgents have in the past frequently targeted the railways through bomb attacks.
A Pakistan Railways spokesperson said that stringent arrangements had been made in the restive Balochistan province, which has been in the grip of a separatist movement led by ethnic Baloch nationalists.
Railway authorities have installed secret close circuit cameras at railways stations in the province. Besides, the authorities have decided to ensure the presence of eight police commandos on every passenger train.
Likewise, commandos will also be deployed at and around railways stations. The railways authorities have also put in place electronic gates at the entrance to railway platforms so that passengers can be scanned. Besides, security staff will use metal detectors to check luggage at stations.
Parking areas at railway stations have been fenced off to prevent unauthorised entry of vehicles to preempt any potential terrorist activity. The authorities have also called up bomb disposal squads.
Special patrolling teams have been formed to check railway tracks for any terrorist sabotage including the planting of explosives under tracks.
Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis work outside their home cities and provinces and mostly migrate to the south and west from the northern areas in search of greener pastures. The work-based migration has been one of the key reasons behind social and economic unrest in the provinces, especially in Balochistan.
Balochistan province accounts for almost half of the country’s land but is the least developed of the four provinces and there is a widespread sense of economic deprivation and discrimination among the local population.
