As the law and order situation starts improves in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials concerned with security arrangements for different offices have started giving up their struggle to keep things intact.
This could be seen while entering the civil secretariat—the hub of government machinery—which comes in what is known as the “Red Zone” area.
Earlier, the administration department installed walkthrough gates at each gate of the secretariat and every visitor and staff member was supposed to pass through these gates before entering into the secretariat. But most of these gates have broken down due to rains or the apathy of the authorities concerned. It is also a possibility that the police never bothered to turn them on.
Said Mohammad, an employee of the civil secretariat noticed that no sounds were mitted when he passed through the secretariat gate as the walkthrough gates have stopped working and the authorities concerned don’t seem to care.
Ashraf Khan, another employee said, “The police personnel deployed at the gates are always buys talking to each other and they only check the visitors, while the employees pass through them unchecked.” He added that everyone should be checked before being allowed inside. He said that the price of a walkthrough gate is around Rs5 00,000 and the money is wasted if the gates are not properly operational.
One of the police guards deployed at the MPA hostel’s side gate of the secretariat said that the rains have broken-down their walkthrough gate, and it will soon be fixed. The police guard claimed that a body search is the only solution to ensure security while the walkthrough gates are useless.
“They can’t differentiate between a gun and car key as they are just metal detectors,” he said adding that to make them useful every person passing through would have to remove every metal item from his body or clothing.
“We can’t afford it because in the morning long queues of employees and visitors pass through this gate and we can’t stop them for such a long time,” he said. He claimed that he knows every employee of the secretariat by face and he stops every visitor and keep his CNIC before letting him in.
When asked about the situation of walkthrough gates, the administration department control room in-charge Mohammad Shabbir said, “All the gates are working and we keep check on them and fix them and change them when needed.”
“Due to the law and order situation in the province they can’t afford any walkthrough gate to be non-operational,” he added.