As the strength of police force in Karachi is not rising proportionally with the increase in its population, banks, trades, industries and posh areas are hiring the services of private guards to cater their security needs and thus a 'private security guard' culture is thriving in the city that besides many pros has also some 'cons', posing some security threats in the city of 16 million plus population.
Two decades ago, in 1987, there were only three private companies providing guards in Karachi, but they mushroomed in the following years due to worsening security situation in the city and inability of Karachi police to deal with culprits due to low strength and inadequate resources.
Officials said that last two to three year proved a blessing for private security agencies due to alarming rise in crime graph. The statistics showed that there were some 170 such companies operating in the province, mostly Karachi, in the year 2007 and of them, only 115 were registered with All Pakistan Private Security Agencies Association (APPSAA).
Today, this number has increased above 200 and some 70 of them are unregistered. These firms had some 60,000 to 62,000-men strength, while the sanctioned police strength in the whole province is about 90,000, some 29,000 of them in Karachi. The number of private security guards in Karachi is told to be about 50,000. The difference between the strength of police force and private guards in Karachi bespeaks itself the real story.
Almost all sectors are now relying on these privately hired men, clad mostly in 'blue uniform' standing guard in or outside banks, money exchange offices, jewellery shops, multinational food chains, schools and bungalows.
However, this changing security culture has some negative consequences, in the backdrop of many armed robberies in banks in connivance with some private security guards.
Last year's record showed 21 bank robberies against eight reported in corresponding year. Out of 16 big heists during the year, the involvement of private security guards was reported in at least ten cases. Though this crucial matter is not unknown to authorities concerned but they are yet reluctant to resolve it on long-term basis.
An official on board in previous meetings between police and owners of private security firms, who requested anonymity, said the stakeholders seemed least interested in evolving a formula to halt the malpractice and instead kept on pointing fingers on each other.
He said the home department in past took notice of this issue at least three times. "The bureaucratic tactics once again intervened and put this matter along with various other core issues on hold for new administration to handle with", he added.
President APPSAA, Colonel Nisar Sarwar Khara (Retd) said they had made proposals asking to introduce remote control surveillance system at hard cash places (like banks). It was so ridiculous when inspections unveiled that the cameras installed at banks were being used only to monitor presence of guards instead of monitoring the entrances, he added.
The proposals also demanded equipping guards with automatic weapons and legal permission to use them, if felt necessary, to halt any criminal act. These guns are virtually useless until guards are not allowed to use them, he reasoned. He said it should be also ensured that if any person dies in firing of these guards, they would not be treated as criminals.
Khara accused that other stakeholders only act when a big crime was reported, otherwise they seemed least interested to discuss this issue. An official close to inquiry committee currently formed by CCPO to probe into robbery incidents at banks committed in connivance with private guards claimed that the body had not met even once since it was formed.
Regarding recruitment criteria, Khara maintained that associated agencies were abiding by code of conduct set by association and those issued by home department. Even, we collect fingerprints of guards and get them verified through police and Nadra, he said.
Furthermore, he said the State Bank of Pakistan had issued an advisory to the Pakistan Banks Association (PBA), asking to carry out re-verification of people serving at banks as guards.
The PBA has chosen APPSAA as an independent entity for this task, which is performing this job since January. Opposing objections regarding employing guard, hailing from tribal areas or interior of Sindh, he said area-based discrimination was not a positive sign. He said the re-verification process was enough to investigate into the background of security guards irrespective of their place of birth.
A senior official in AVCC, when contacted said that such a large number of private security guards could greatly help police in averting crimes at various public places, provided they were trained professionally. Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, when contacted, said he had summoned a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss the issue on April 7.