Many institutions do not even have main gates for protection, besides other poor security conditions
HYDERABAD: The Bacha Khan University attack has truly stunned the country. This was not an attack on Charsadda; it was an attack on the heart of the entire Pakistani nation. The incident occurred due to the mismanagement of security, sending parents into yet another cycle of fear.
Bacha Khan University was not the only educational institutions in Pakistan where security measures are non-existent. Many institutions do not even have main gates for protection so what surety is there that a similar incident is not going to occur again? Several universities in Sindh, like Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Sciences and Technology in Nawabshah, do not have security provisions at their hostels. People come and leave as they please at any time of the day. Hostel gates are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and there is not even a watchman to check who is coming in and out and for what purpose. Motorbikes are frequently stolen and when the managements of universities are informed, they repeat their old mantra that they are not responsible for people’s belongings. It also claims that outsiders are not allowed to stay in hostels but 20 per cent of the people living in them are those who do not belong to that particular university. In case another Bacha Khan University-type attack happens, who will be held responsible?
Talat Rustamani
Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2016.
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