Christian leaders should arrange private security guards from their own community along with the efforts made by the government agencies to maintain security arrangements of the churches.
This was said by Rawalpindi Commissioner Khalid Masud Chaudhry while presiding over a meeting in his office of clergy men of churches on Wednesday.
Acting Regional Police Officer (RPO) Bilal Siddique Kamiana, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar, Additional Commissioner Habib Ullah, Pastor Pervez Suhail, Christian Action Committee Chairman Suhail Ishtiaq, Pastor Javed Johnson Peter from Attock, Pastor Suhail Mubarik for Chakwal, Father Ijaz Basharat for Jhelum, Pastor Johnson Bhatti and other Christian leaders participated in the meeting.
He said women private guards should also be deputed for the purpose so that the internal security of the churches could be ensured and external security should be arranged by the police department. The training of private security guards would be arranged under Rescue 1122 in their respective districts. The list of private security guards should be furnished to DCO office for onward transmission to the Home Department to issue the arms licences for them after scrutiny of their particulars, he added.
Commissioner said that the Christian community should avoid arranging conventions at open places and incase it has to be arranged at an open place or in the church, the respective police station must be informed to make adequate security arrangements. DCOs had already been directed that they should arrange meetings from time to time with the Christian leaders and the security arrangements must be done according to the sensitivity of the location to avoid any untoward incident. He said that every possible step was taken for the safety of churches in the division and they would not be left helpless in this regard.
Acting RPO Bilal Siddique Kamiana while addressing the meeting said SDPOs had been directed to visit personally every church to review the security arrangements being done by the police department. He informed that a committee would be constituted under the chairmanship of SDPOs on every sub divisional level which would be called liaison committees. The committee would be convened monthly with the Christian leaders to solve their problems. SHOs would also be the member of these committees. The Christian leaders while expressing their views in the meeting said that district and divisional administration would be given earnest cooperation in the maintenance of law and order and to maintain peaceful atmosphere. The commissioner announced that meeting of Divisional Liaison Committee with the Christian leaders would be arranged every month for the mutual discussion about the problems of Christian community.