Counterterrorism efforts: Capital’s police briefed on modern weapons

New security plan to be presented to interior ministry soon.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital’s police force has sought advice from experts as it looks to equip its arsenal with modern weapons to deal with increasing security challenges.

On Monday, a team from the Pakistan Ordnance Factories visited Islamabad Police Lines Headquarters. The team gave a detailed briefing to Islamabad Police officers on the use of modern weapons.

The team from Wah also demonstrated the use of sophisticated weapons technology that the police could use to tackle emergency situations.

Headquarters Deputy Inspector General Khalid Khattak and Operations Senior Superintendent Police Dr Muhammad Rizwan were accompanied by several senior police officials who attended the briefing.

According to sources, the Islamabad Police are also preparing a new security plan for the city on the directions of the interior ministry. The police have requested more vehicles and security cameras, along with non-lethal electroshock weapons for police checkpoints, sources said. The plan is expected to be presented to the ministry soon.

Police officials said the purpose of the Monday briefing was to increase the professional skills of police personnel. They said new weapons would be purchased and training would be provided to the police officials to handle the weapons effectively.

On August 27, police also deployed around 650 officials including commandoes at checkpoints and police pickets in-and-around the capital.

The vulnerability of the Islamabad Police was exposed during a five-hour standoff with an armed gunman on Jinnah Avenue on August 15, just two kilometres away from the city’s Red Zone which houses several sensitive installations and government buildings. The capital police chief Sikandar Hayat had later told an interior ministry inquiry committee that police were ill-equipped in terms of weapons and training to deal with the situation.

After the incident, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar publicly stated that the capital’s police would be provided modern weapons so police officials could deal with high-risk and high-pressure security situations.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2013.