Concerned: All security officials to be screened

All security personnel deputed on VVIP duties will be screened to avert an incident like Taseer's murder.

GILGIT: All security personnel deputed on VVIP duties will be screened to avert the possibility of an incident like former Punjab governor Salman Taseer’s assassination, sources told The Express Tribune on Thursday.

“It is a precautionary measure,” said an official who did not want to be named.

He said that although officials deputed on the security of the chief minister, acting governor and other cabinet members were dependable, security plan “will be revised to remove any loopholes”. At present, there are around four dozen VVIPs in the region, including members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council and advisers of the Gilgit-Baltistan legislature.

The Express Tribune has learnt from various sources that intelligence agencies will scrutinise all security-related personnel, and they would also be compiling a comprehensive an assessment report.

A database, officials said, of all policemen working as guards or performing security duties would be prepared and “constantly updated”.

The Gilgit-Baltistan government is taking this matter seriously as a number of policemen have earlier been investigated on suspicion of playing a possible role in sectarian killings in the region last year. An official said that spy agencies have already started the vetting process.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2011.