Majority of security guards, employed by over 150 private security companies working in the capital city, are not only untrained and but they are also without sophisticated weapons. Hence they are least equipped to provide protection their clients.
In the wake of increasing terrorist threats, the capital police and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) have issued licenses to over 150 security companies to assist capital police in providing security to people.
“Under the license agreement signed with security companies, each company is required to train and equip their employees that are to be deployed in different department and organisations registered with Ministry of Interior. Some of them are Police Foundation, Askari Guard and Police Lind Headquarters”, a senior official said.
He said that the ICT administration never checked the quality of their service and weapons. He said the companies mostly hired aged people and give them ‘defective weapons’.
Aftab Ali, a client complained that the security companies simply ignore the quality of service they are providing. Another client also questioned the training and equipment of guards employed by the private security companies.
These companies have instructed the guard to “avoid shooting under any circumstances”.
Most of companies either do not pay salaries to guards on time or they simply pay too little that their staff could work with dedication. A 40-year-old guard, Rasheed, said that he was yet to get his last month’s salary. A number of security guards, on the condition of anonymity, said that their firms had told them they should not use their guns under any circumstances and that they should rather flee to save our lives in case of an attack. Some of them even said they were being paid under Rs 7,000, the minimum pay according to government’s rules.
