Rangers introduce software to safeguard educational institutions against terrorism

Over 3,000 schools have been registered; the system will expand to hospitals and installations, says Colonel Qaiser

The Pakistan Rangers have introduced a comprehensive computer software which will work as an response system in the face of a terrorism threat in the educational institutions of Karachi.

“The system has been installed on at least 15 spots of the metropolis and will serve as immediate response system during a terrorism threat,” Colonel Qaiser of the paramilitary force said while talking to the media on Saturday.

The institutions will be able to send an SMS (Short Messaging Service) during a threat which will appear on the system and automatically on mobile phones of Rangers commander, he added.



Qaiser went on to say that the aim of the initiative service is to enable the force react promptly and provide ample security to the institutions, adding that about 3,000 schools have been registered with the system while more are being inducted.

The system will have information of all schools and colleges including their maps and contact information of the administration heads, and enable identification of the patrolling units.

On these basis, the city has been divided into 60 places with each company of Rangers being responsible for security in their respective areas, he said.

The Rangers' official said the system will later expand to hospitals, sensitive installations and media houses of the city.



He also assured that the police have been taken on-board to materialise the plan and help the paramilitary force in this regard.

Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Maula Buksh Chandio clarified that there are no conflicts between the provincial government and Rangers, saying they have complete faith in the country’s forces.

The Rangers and other security agencies have been busy in an operation in Karachi for the last three years to maintain law and order and purge the metropolis of terrorist elements.

The educational institutions of the country have been on alert since the 2014 gruesome attack on Army Public School in Peshawar which had left more than 150 people – most of them children – dead.