The Sindh government has decided to raise a special force for the security of polio teams.
Sources said that the plan for constituting a special force for providing safety to the polio team was made several years earlier but it could not get the go-ahead due to unexplained reasons.
The shooting incident in Orangi Town on Wednesday, which claimed the lives of seven policemen who were providing security to the polio vaccination teams in the area, had forced the government to review their idea of forming the special agency which will require cops to undergo commando training with an assignment of protecting the polio vaccination volunteers.
An official seeking anonymity said: “The idea was originally floated two years ago. Initially, the chief minister was much impressed by the idea but then it was dropped without citing any reason. Perhaps, this happened due to insufficient funds.”
It is also in the air that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah asked the home ministry to quickly work on the agenda. An official from the home ministry said that the plan had to be worked out at a quick pace as the present-day police force was more efficient in tackling routine crimes despite having little training.
He said: “The problem was that the police force was short of personnel to raise a dedicated squad. Such a force can only be viable if we recruit it afresh like a new scheme.”