KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has observed that India’s intelligence agency and Taliban agents may have inducted in the guise of security guards. While hearing the Karachi violence case at the Supreme Court registry on Thursday, he observed that security arrangements were made only on paper. “Don’t wait for tragedies to happen and take prompt steps for security. If effective steps are not taken, incidents will continue to take place.”
He said that training should be imparted to the security guards deployed at hospitals as they were soft targets. “The screening of security guards is a must. It cannot be ruled out that there may be agents of Taliban and RAW in the guise of security guards. These are the kind of people who get themselves enrolled on fake identity cards,” he said. However, “it is the responsibility of the police to keep a watchful eye on them. No compromise can be made on such matters. Security guards deployed at hospitals were not being subjected to screening,” the chief justice observed. The Sindh government filed a progress report on security steps taken during five years. It was said in the report that police and Rangers conducted more than 17,000 operations from September 2013 till now and apprehended 80,000 culprits. Over 1,500 persons were involved in target killing and kidnapping for ransom were also arrested.
According to the report, effective steps have been taken to depoliticise the police. The Sindh chief secretary told the court that Rs 10 billion had been earmarked for purchase of new CCTV cameras. It will take time to invite tenders about over 10,000 CCTV cameras. Therefore, permission should be accorded to spend money on repair of 8,000 old cameras, he said. The hearing of the case was adjourned till next month.
