The government is all set to launch a special force for the protection of the VVIPs, including the President, Prime Minister, ministers and for security of the Red Zone in Federal capital.
In first phase, 1,200 personnel were selected from among the different security organisations, which are being imparted training by foreign instructors, well placed sources in the Interior Ministry told Business Recorder on Friday.
They said that these 1,200 personnel were being trained in Mardan and they would be in action very soon to perform the security duty in Islamabad. The Interior Ministry is supervising the training and other facilities for this force, but it will work directly under the authority of the Prime Minister.
This would be highly skilled and well-equipped force equal to the Special Services Group (SSG) of Pakistan Army, they said, adding that they would be provided sophisticated weapons to make sure complete protection of the VVIPs and government installations in Red Zone.
They said that the decision of raising a new force was taken after taking into consideration the disadvantages of calling Rangers, Punjab Police and other law-enforcement agencies for security of Islamabad. It was more expensive, they added.
They said that this force would perform security duty in Red Zone, in which the government was considering to build a security wall on the pattern of wall built around the area in which American Army headquarter was situated.
The idea of construction of wall was dropped due to very high cost of over Rs 10 billion and now installation of high technology explosive scanners and monitors on entry points to avoid suicide bombing in future. The Interior Ministry has put a proposal before the government and it was being discussed at the highest level.