According to journalist Ashfaq Yusufzai, "Not one of Peshawar’s 30police stations stays open after 8 p.m. Police in rural Peshawar have stoppednight patrols after a patrol was blown up in a grenade attack on May 29."Militants operating in the Matani, Adezai, Badhber and Mathra areas of Peshawarhave regularly been attacking girls’ schools, CD and video centres, barbershops and Police establishments. Apart from the fact that rocket attacks were onthe increase in Peshawar, militants have also resorted to blowing up electricitytowers, a tactic applied regularly in Balochistan. Peshawar, with an estimatedpopulation of 2.3 million and counting, for instance, was plunged into completedarkness as militants blew up the 500KV major pylon near Sheikh Mohammadi GridStation in the early hours of August 8. The blast also caused power suspensionto the entire Peshawar District and some parts of the Southern Districts –areas of Kohat, Hangu, Lachi, Gorgorai and Pabbi. An official of the PeshawarElectric Supply Company said the attack was a reaction to the anti-Talibanoperation in the Matni area. The same pylon had been blown up by militants onMay 12. According to the Globe and Mail, militants have started openly enteringPeshawar to threaten businesses they disapprove of, such as music shops.
In reality, the augmented presence of the Taliban in Peshawar is not unusual.They have always had a significant presence in the town and in the surroundingregions, including the Khyber Agency, Darra Adam Khel, Mohmand Agency, Shabqadar,Michni and Mardan. Furthermore, the capacities to repel any Taliban push towardsPeshawar are lacking. For instance, the Inspector General of the NWFP Police,Malik Naveed Khan, said at Peshawar, on June 12, 2008, that the province had a40 percent deficit in Police Stations and Police Lines buildings.
A trust deficit has dominated the dialogue between the government and therebels. While the Taliban, operating under the command of Maulana Fazlullah,have claimed that the government has not withdrawn troops nor vacated SFcheckpoints nor released imprisoned militants, as agreed, the provincialgovernment and security agencies argue that the Taliban has not disbanded itsmilitia, they continue to carry out suicide attacks and to target the SFs andgovernment installations.
The NWFP government is currently deliberating a three-year ‘comprehensivepeace plan’, with an estimated cost of approximately USD Four billion whichaims at reducing the militancy by 30 per cent. Among its objectives are thereduction of attacks on security forces, prevention of suicide attacks, reversalof the loss of civil governance, retrieval of areas lost to militants andregaining the space currently dominated by the forces of radical Islam. Withinthis rubric, the provincial government intends to: