Rs0.5b to be spent on police’s bulletproof gear

Initiative taken to provide necessary safety and security to every policeman

LAHORE: To ensure the safety of its personnel, Punjab police have decided to procure bulletproof helmets and jackets by spending Rs518 million in the current fiscal year.

Out of Rs518 million, Rs378 million will be spent for the procurement of bulletproof jackets and Rs176 million for similar helmets. The aim is to ensure safety protocols during duties.

The objective behind the move is to provide safety equipment to every policeman and policewoman. Police have been at the forefront of the war on terror and served as first responders to incidents of violence. In its role on the frontlines, the force was responsible for vulnerable gatherings as well as religious and political congregations.

They also manned sensitive installations, along with entry and exit points of the city. Policemen and policewomen have either been targeted directly by terrorists or fallen prey to such attacks in the line of duty.

Since February 2017, there have been at least four terrorist attacks that specifically targeted police in Lahore alone. The blasts included the Mall Road blast in February 2017, Ferozepur Road in July 2017, Raiwind Road in March 2018 and Data Darbar in 2019.

In the blasts, senior police officers, including officers of DIG and SSP ranks lost their lives. Police establishments have been targets of terror attacks in the past. In 2015, a suicide bomber hit Qila Gujjar Singh Police lines. In 2009, at least 16 policemen were killed in an attack on the Manawan Police Training School.  The same year, at least three police officials lost their lives in a terror attack outside Allama Iqbal police station.

Besides these direct terror hits on officials and establishments, the force has also borne the brunt of attacks targeting other people or establishments. In such cases, they were simply deputed for duty at the wrong place at the wrong time.

In 2008, at least 22 policemen had lost their lives in a terror attack on GPO Chowk. In 2009, at least six personnel were killed in an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team. In May 2015, a police officer was also martyred in a terror attack outside Qaddafi Stadium. It was during this period that the need to ensure the safety of the saviours was realised.

However, the question of providing bulletproof helmets and jackets to policemen at the station only gained prominence after an attack on a police picket in Iqbal Town.

At least two policemen were killed in the attack. The victims, identified as constables Muhammad Asif and Mubashir, were deployed at a picket at Chenab Pulli near Neelam Block. They signaled a vehicle to pull over, but the occupants of the car fired at the police instead of stopping the vehicle. The victims suffered critical injuries and were shifted to Jinnah Hospital where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival. Two incidents had also occurred in which officials at pickets were shot at by motorcyclists. In 2010, three personnel, including a sub-inspector, were shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists at a picket set up at Shabab Chowk in Samanabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2019.