Eastern provinces under security blanket

JALALABAD (PAN celebrations, security officials said on Thursday.

Nangarhar deputy police chief Col. Masoom Khan Hashmi told Pajhwok Afghan News elaborate security measures had been adopted in and around Jalalabad and other parts of the province to enable residents to celebrate the festival without any fear.

He said security forces had been tasked with keeping guard in sensitive areas of the city and adjacent parts until the celebrations ended.

A spokesman for the 201st Selab Military Corps, Col. Noman Hatafi, said they had also chalked out comprehensive security plans for the new year celebrations to avert any untoward situation.

He said the troops had put seven provinces, including eastern, under tight security cover in connection with the celebration.

A Heskamina resident, Tayeb, who arrived in Jalalabad to visit the Amir Shahid park, said he observed tight security arrangements were in place between his home area and the city.

“Seeing police all around makes me feel secure to participate in Nawroz celebrations,” he said.

Journalist union head Lal Pacha Azmon suggested security forces should patrol everywhere in order to keep the law and order situation under control.

He hoped the new year would bring peace and stability to the nation that had been in clutches of violence over the past four decades.

“We have long been in the war that saw millions killed, wounded and displaced. It brought us nothing, but destruction,” said the senior journalist, who called upon the nation to stay united in bringing peace.

ma/mud

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