In the wake of recent bombings at police stations across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), police in the twin cities have tightened the security of security installations.
The capital police are conducting a survey to gather details of people living in different areas. The security of police stations and other offices of the security agencies was heightened with more patrolling and strengthening of boundary walls.
Special security arrangements were made for Police Lines Headquarters, which hosts many important offices and residences of police officials.
In the garrison city of Rawalpindi, the security agencies conducted a detailed report and recommendations were sent to the concerned authorities.
Official sources said the security of sensitive areas, security agencies’ offices, offices of city police officials and their houses, police stations, Police Lines, police training centre Sihala and divisional police offices will be improved, in line with the recommendations of the security report.
The report mentioned that six close circuit cameras (CCTV) were installed at Regional Police Office (RPO) Rawalpindi, however, none of them is in working order. There is no security guard deployed at the parking lot of the RPO, either.
The officials of the police are forced to park their motorbikes inside the office without any checking, which could pose a security risk, said the report. Moreover, the City Police Office (CPO) was well watched yet it did not have walk-through gates at the entrance.
“It could be a security risk as there are chances of visitors evading [frisking] and get in,” said a police official. He added that the short boundary wall of the office was easy to scale, linking his fears to the recent incident in Karachi where terrorists had scaled a wall to enter the premises of the naval base.
The Civil Lines police is also facing similar security concerns. It was established in a residential area. A three-storey office of the excise department located nearby has no mechanism for checking visitors. The two buildings were a security threat for people living in the close vicinity.
The presence of residential houses close to a gate of Civil Lines Police Station means anyone could enter the building undetected. The boundary walls from Jhanda Chichi side are also a security risk, the report stated.
Similarly the centre of Punjab Constabulary Battalion II has no boundary walls nor are there any walk-through gates. Similarly, the security guards do not have metal detectors with them, according to the report.
The report added that walk-through gates and searchlights were not installed at the main gate of Sihala College, while two metal detectors installed at the college had gone out of order. The college’s Campus I does not have a rear wall. Similarly, holes at different places in the boundary wall of the college are a serious threat to its security. The college also does not have any equipment to look beneath the cars entering the building. The college’s Campus II ahs no boundary walls from Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) Campus Dhamial to the end of the colony gate.
Similarly the security protocols of DPO office Attock, District Jhelum and Chakwal police offices and Police Lines need to be improved in order to ensure their security.
Regional Police Officer (RPO) Rawalpindi Capitan (retd) Zubair Ahmed told The Express Tribune that they were trying their best to make foolproof security arrangements in the city. Entry and exit points are being reduced and police posts are being set up, he said.
Deputy Commandant, Doctor Ghulam Rasool rejected the claims of non-availability of digital walk-through gates on main entrance of Sihala College and said that police had searchlights and metal detectors.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2011.
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