The increasing number of brutal murders committed by private security guards is becoming alarmingly frequent and raising many questions about the sanity of individuals being recruited by private security agencies.
The recent incident of a security guard shooting at a fellow security guard during duty on a minimal disagreement is such third incident this year. A private security guard working at River View Society identified as Muhammad Asif was shot in the temple over a minor issue while a another guard was shot in the ankle by their fellow guard during duty on Thursday. The shooter was identified as Sikandar alias Nomi. The man was shot in the head while other guards were also present.
According to details, Asif and Sikandar were deployed at River View Society as guards. Their co-workers say that Asif and Sikandar were good friends and used to borrow money from each other. On the night of the incident, Sikandar along with other guards were chatting with a guest who had just arrived. Asif and Sikandar had exchanged a few harsh sentences in front of the guest after which the conversation digressed to be about the money Asif had borrowed from Sikandar. As the conversation got more vigorous, Sikandar took out his gun and pointed it at Asif. As a reaction Asif stood up and dared him to pull the trigger. Sikandar shot at Asif and killed him. When another friend interfered, he was shot in the ankle as Sikandar fled.
The family of the deceased refused to talk in this regard. Police are conducting raids to arrest the culprits while the body of the deceased was handed over to the family after completing procedural steps. In another incident, which occurred on May 23, guard Attiqur Rehman shot at three men, killing two and injuring one badly. Attique was hired at Agha General Store located in DD commercial area DHA. The first information report of the incident states that Attique used to smoke in front of the shop while guarding it.
The shopkeeper had stopped the guard several times from doing so but he did not refrain. He said that on the day of the incident, supervisor Dilshad and worker Fayyaz at the shop had asked him to stop smoking. The guard and the two men had a minor scuffle after which the guard shot both of them and another man who had interfered in the matter. Hafiz Adil, 22, and Dilshad, 20, were killed while Fayyaz, 24, was injured. One was killed on the spot while one passed away in the hospital and the other was seriously injured. The guard fled but was captured by police later on the same evening.
In another incident, a guard deployed at a bank near Kot Abdul Malik had fortified himself inside the bank and shot at the roof and walls of the room in Shahdara in early September. The man identified as Javed Iqbal and was later established as insane. The man had locked himself up in the bank and opened fire on the ceiling and walls of the bank. People residing in the vicinity of the bank heard the noise and called police. At first, police thought that it was a robbery case. As policemen entered the bank, the guard warned the police not to disturb him. After 14 hours of negotiation, the elite force was called in and the guard was arrested after an operation.
The Punjab chief minister in April showed concern over the messy spread of private security agencies. The CM said that the performance of some security agencies was very poor and the security guards were neither trained nor equipped with modern weapons. He said that a comprehensive system should be evolved for reviewing the performance of private security agencies in the province. Shahbaz directed the home secretary to arrange detailed briefings with regard to private security agencies. DIG Ghulam Mehmood Dogar said, “Private security firms have a flawed induction process”. He said that very few security agencies train their guards from the Elite Police School.
The DIG said that the guards were called from rural areas and without any test were inducted by agencies that handed the unqualified men guns. He said that many security guards had also been found involved in incidents like theft.