Peshawar’s civil secretariat vacated over security concerns

PESHAWAR: A false security alert caused the evacuation of the Civil Secretariat and government buildings across Peshawar, compelling most employees to depart for home. In response to rumors of a potential threat to mosques on the secretariat premises during Friday prayers, workers hastily exited their offices. Chief Minister Sohail Afridi categorized the security threat as fabricated, citing its intention to create panic.

The Civil Secretariat, along with numerous government offices on Warsak Road, Shami Road, and Khyber Road, was left largely deserted. Finance department officials were among the first to depart their offices upon learning of the alert. An official from the excise department, situated adjacent to the finance department, also evacuated their premises.

A senior agriculture department employee instructed a subordinate to inspect the home department offices due to the security alert. When the subordinate arrived, they found them predominantly unoccupied and promptly directed staff to leave. Livestock department representatives also received the threat notification around noon and subsequently evacuated their workplaces.

Similarly, employees from the information, mines and mineral, and health departments followed suit. Planning and development department officials reported that a senior officer personally approached staff members to urge their departure due to the security alert. After widespread reporting by mainstream and social media outlets of the evacuation, Chief Minister Afridi visited the Civil Secretariat to participate in Friday prayers at one of its mosques.

However, a video released by the Chief Minister's office revealed only a handful of attendees, given the mosque's usual crowded atmosphere during Friday prayers. Afridi disclosed to a press conference that the threat was a fabricated alert aimed at instilling panic. The Civil Secretariat, situated within the cantonment area protected by army personnel, would be under the jurisdiction of law-enforcement authorities in the event of any terror activity.

Afridi questioned whether law-enforcement agencies were only motivated by the prospect of abducting provincial ministers and eliminating the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Nonetheless, he assured the public that their concerns about intimidating PTI leadership and activists were unfounded. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated a general security concern following the Kohat attack.

The incident involved a suicide bomber detonating an explosives-laden vehicle near a mosque in Kohat district's old Police Lines on Thursday, followed by terrorists storming the premises and attacking police facilities, resulting in the deaths of 23 individuals, including 15 police officers, and injuring 100 others.