From Delhi to Dublin: Police Escort

They say that a picture paints a thousand words, and god knows I don't want to write 8,000 words, so I shall describe the police escort towards Iran in a semi-pictorial manner:

One of our first escorts in the province of Punjab (a very safe and stable province).

Again, escort in the province of Punjab (on way to DGK)

This was our escort 30km west of DGK where we have already entered the tribal region. At first, it was a guy on a motorbike, and we were requested to cycle the 35km to the next checkpoint. After our protests, they eventually found this pickup.

Yes...em...
Even after our protests, they couldn't find a police vehicle/pickup, so this was our mode of transport. The police escort (1 man with no gun) travelled in a second truck behind this one. Only trouble was that our truck travelled faster than his, so we got dropped off near sunset, in the middle of nowhere, with no escort!

10min later a private pickup with our policeman in the passenger seat pulled up. We piled into the back and descended into Baluchistan. Will was as happy as he looks!

Baluchistan Police. In the words of the people we stayed the night with "They have no vehicles, they are more just for show. It is the Tribal Leaders who police this area"

After these guys, we got a motorcycle to cycle alongside us for the 4km into Rakhney, the first town in Baluchistan. We called into the police station only to find out that no-one had informed them we were coming. They had no vehicles to take us any further. We would have to stay the night there.

Only one person spoke English and he explained the situation to us. Baluchistan is a bit of a rogue state. They would like independance, but due to their mineral wealth, the government is a little reluctant to give it. They are also reluctant to invest in Baluchistan so roads are poor, education is poor, and the police force is poorly equiped. He said we could spend the night at his and continue on in the morning.

On arrival at his house we discovered that it was actually the house of the Tribal Leader for the area; we had been talking with his nephew. The leader himself was off on the campaign trail for upcoming local elections but his son and two of his nephews (the one at the police station and another cousin) fed and entertained us for the evening. They were among the best people we met in Pakistan, and we met some very very good people. All 3 could speak excellent English, and we learned much about the Tribal system and the problems within Baluchistan. It was a pity we could only spend one night there.

In the morning Imtiaz (the first nephew we met) took us to the bus station and organised for our trip to Quetta. We would be conducting this part of the trip without our police escort, but had his assurances that this section of the road was safe. Within and beyond Quetta was a different story. Its close proximity to Afghanistan and lack of a properly controlled border (it's over 2000km long) meant that certain characters migrate from Afghanistan and can cause problems for foreigners in that part of the country. AK47's are in abundance and kidnappings are not too uncommon. His advice was to contact the police in Quetta and go from there!