Security’s sake: Ex-servicemen recruited for NADRA

At least 120 will be taken in for offices across province

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police has started the process of recruiting 120 former servicemen for the security of National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) offices in the province. Around 104 men and 16 women are being recruited across 24 districts of the province.

Officials told The Express Tribune on Sunday that the highest number will be recruited in Peshawar district where NADRA requires 14 guards, including 13 men and a woman. Next is Swat which needs nine guards, of which eight are men and one is a woman.

Similarly, eight former servicemen will be recruited for Manshera district, including a woman.



While speaking to The Express Tribune, a high ranking police official said NADRA officials requested the police department to provide security after the suicide attack on the latter’s office in Mardan.

He added police guards were deployed at NADRA offices, while a proposal was also submitted to hire ex-servicemen for security purposes, provided their salaries are paid.

“NADRA accepted our offer and now we are in the process of recruiting 120 people for them,” he said.

“Ex-servicemen are those people who retired from the police, army, Frontier Corps or Frontier Constabulary and will be paid by NADRA. They will receive salaries which match their last paid amount in service.”

He said police will provide training to these individuals and deploy them at NADRA offices.

“We have provided security to their offices for the time being, but police cannot share this burden on a permanent basis.” He explained that recruitment is being carried out on the district level by district and regional police officers.

“These people will be recruited initially on a two-year contract basis and they will be considered NADRA employees.”

At least 23 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the main gate of the NADRA office in Dohsera Chowk in Mardan in December 29, 2015. The bomber was on a motorcycle and rammed his bike into the main gate of the office. Eight kilogrammes of explosives were used to carry out the attack. A banned militant outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2016.