New push by politicians to buy costly bulletproof cars

The scheme in the name of vulnerable personalities was dumped 6 months ago.

ISLAMABAD:

Powerful politicians belonging to both the ruling party and its coalition partners have renewed their secret efforts to get the cash-starved government execute the multi-million-rupee project to buy bulletproof vehicles in the name of “vulnerable personalities”.

The proposed scheme had earlier been dumped by the cabinet fearing public backlash.

After sitting on the issue for six months, the cabinet division has finally approached the federal interior secretary to immediately hold the ministerial committee meeting formed by the cabinet on October 6, 2010 to decide the issue of buying bulletproof cars. The panel is also supposed to make a list of persons who fall in the category of “vulnerable personalities”.

Documents submitted before the cabinet in its last meeting revealed that politicians from Fata – sitting in the Senate and the National Assembly – too had now joined the race to make the government fall in line and buy the bulletproof cars for their security.

If the scheme is approved by the cabinet to please some individuals, it would be the second time in five years the government will be spending money on such expensive cars in the name of security.

During the Musharraf era, more than 50 bulletproof cars were purchased worth more than a billion rupees. Those costly cars were mostly used for the escort duty of General Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz. After the 2008 elections, the new president and the prime minister started using them for their own escorts.

Sources claimed that the issue of bulletproof cars for vulnerable personalities again landed in the cabinet in its last meeting, when the cabinet division submitted its update on this issue which was earlier discussed in the cabinet meeting held in last October. The fresh push has come after the assassination of minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti.

The updated report on the matter was submitted after politicians from Fata also approached the government to provide them bulletproof cars.

The mounting pressure from Fata MPs has now forced Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to ask the interior ministry to invite one of their representatives to become member of the cabinet committee which was formed six months back to look into the matter and present its report to the cabinet.

Official documents available with The Express Tribune pertaining to purchase of bulletproof vehicles reveal that the matter was now referred to the interior ministry.

The documents show that last year, a summary was moved to the federal cabinet seeking provision of bulletproof cars to “vulnerable personalities”. The cabinet deliberated upon the issue with all its pros and cons. Some ministers were concerned because of financial constraints, while others warned of possible public reaction.

After long discussion, the cabinet decided to constitute a ministerial committee to work out a “practical, viable and realistic” plan of action for the provision of bulletproof vehicles to the vulnerable citizens. It was decided that the committee shall devise a SOP for threat assessment of these vulnerable personalities whose list was to be prepared by the interior ministry.

The committee which was given the task to finalise its recommendations included minister for finance, interior, science and technology, railways, law, justice and parliamentary affairs, information broadcasting and overseas Pakistanis with the interior minister as its convener. But, the cabinet division report says that during the last six months, no meeting was called to discuss the issue as now more politicians and Fata members approached the government to provide them bulletproof cars for their safety.



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