KARACHI: President’s security costing Sindh police dearly
By S. Raza Hassan
KARACHI, Dec 7: The Sindh police department is paying dearly for security concerns in terms of President Asif Ali Zardari’s personal safety, and a considerable portion of its resources has been diverted towards the protection of the two recently-declared presidential houses in the province, Dawn has learnt.
The provincial police department is providing Rs10 million of its own funds, raised through citizens’ taxes, to install a network of closed-circuit cameras at Bilawal House in Karachi, well-placed sources said.
In addition, two scanning machines, which were recently purchased by the Sindh police at the cost of Rs10 million, have been sent to Zardari House in Nawabshah. The machines were supposed to have been installed at the Central Police Office, the nerve centre of the Sindh police, for increased security.
The sources added, however, that so far there is no trained staff available at Zardari House which has the expertise required for handling such hi-tech equipment.
Reportedly, security experts are these days looking into the purchase of flexi-barriers that are to be installed in the parking area of Bilawal House. Sources said that such barriers are being used in Dubai.
Terming Zardari House and Bilawal House a strain on the exchequer, a senior government functionary pointed out that although these locations were recently declared President’s Houses, they are nevertheless the personal property of President Zardari. “The resources available with the Sindh government, which are already meagre, are being diverted towards the president’s house, although this responsibility should be the domain of the federal government,” said sources.
‘BDU virtually ineffective’
Moreover, the Bomb Disposal Unit of the Karachi police has been “rendered virtually ineffective” since nearly half of the recently-acquired gadgetry essential for the detection and defusing of bombs has been sent to Bilawal House and Zardari House. This equipment includes bomb locators, mine detectors, bomb disposal suits and other such items essential to the working of the Bomb Disposal Unit. At the same time, however, Zardari House lacks staff trained in the use of these gadgets.
Of the three response squads of the Bomb Disposal Unit, one has been posted permanently at Bilawal House. This leaves just two squads to answer to the needs of the city, where law and order is a growing concern, and creates a serious disparity between the security needs of Karachi’s increasing population and the meagre resources of the Bomb Disposal Unit.
The sources maintained that the Bomb Disposal Unit, which has never enjoyed a comfortable state of affairs, is being put under extreme strain by having to divert the few resources with which the department was recently provided. “Actually, the bomb disposal equipment for the security of the president’s residences ought to have been provided by the federal government, instead of the Sindh police’s Bomb Disposal Unit,” observed a senior police officer.
Sources told Dawn that the Bomb Disposal Unit has a sanctioned strength of 42 officers, but there is a working or posted strength of between 100 and 150 officers. For the past few months, the Bomb Disposal Unit has been given a ‘high-risk allowance’, but this is being given only to the department’s sanctioned strength. Therefore, the rest of the unit’s personnel are not benefiting from this allowance.
The cited strength is for the needs of the entire province and not meant for Karachi alone. Sources pointed out that when required, the Bomb Disposal Unit’s response team answers calls from outside the city, such as from Hub in Balochistan, for which purpose the unit is dispatched from the Central Police Office. Meanwhile, the number of experts who are capable of or qualified to defuse explosive devices is very low: just 10 for a bustling metropolis of 14 million people. Similarly, there are hardly six such experts in Hyderabad, said the sources.
