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Business and security

The business community in Pakistan is beset with many problems, none of them as alarming as the rapid deterioration of the law and order situation in the whole of Sindh. While we used to kidnappings and hold-ups on TV and the movies or read about in Sicily or Sardinia (or even the interior of Sindh) it has now become an  ugly reality in Karachi. The rash of lawlessness has exposed the inadequate security cover provided by the beleaguered law enforcement agencies (LEAs), who besides being stretched thin on the ground are woefully ill-equipped, their multifarious roles taking a demanding toll on their present capabilities. Out-gunned and even out-numbered at critical junctures, the security forces have been left gasping for breath. This is not their fault, it is just fashionable to lay all the blame at their doorstep. Over the years, paucity of funds has kept their manpower/equipment wish-lists from being granted, result is that Kalashnikovs and drugs proliferation has led us to complete domination by forces of lawlessness and disorder.

With the business community up in arms over the failure of the LEAs to ensure their protection, the economic climate has seriously been undermined. Mr Aitzaz Ahsan, Federal Minister for Interior, loquacious as ever, has been doing the rounds of Karachi recently, assuaging the genuine fears of the business community, stunned over the recent escalation of kidnappings over the past few weeks. With the LEAs unable to cope with emergency after emergency and each sector of the community demanding undivided attention, there has been a massive flight of capital and wealthy individuals to safer havens. While money taking wings is always a sore point it is replaceable, not so the entrepreneurial skills which once lost can be catastrophic for the economy. Having had a never-ending brain drain, the exodus of economic talent cannot be endured for long. It is time to address the situation with firmness.

Obviously the first thing to do is to (1) increase the manpower of the Sindh Police, particularly concerned with Karachi and the roads into the interior of Sindh (2) enhance their capability by a combination of induction of equipment and training (3) improve their working conditions to bring it to par at least with the Defence Service of Pakistan and (4) disengage their services form such routine duties that must be outside the purview, e.g. static guards, various private, semi-private, diplomatic entities must fend for themselves out of their own allocated funds (5) make a comprehensive computerised network of information available through wireless telemetry and voice communications for quick reaction (6) enhance the mobility of LEAs by providing them abundance of cross-country vehicles (7) separate the working of the LEAs into effective units, i.e. Police Stations to be concerned with crime and verification duties only, no extraneous duties like VIP protection, riot control, etc, (8) traffic police to be under the control of the municipality, (9) comprehensive motivational programme introduced making manpower welfare the paramount concern for quality enhancement. One cannot blame the Sindh police in the circumstances, they are overworked, underpaid and badly equipped, because of the ambiguous political situation, their commitment and motivation has become subject to vacillation.

The Sindh Police should be clearly demarcated into Metropolitan Police Forces looking after the large cities and Towns and the Rural Police Force, off course under one Inspector General. They should be backed up by an effective Highway Patrol Unit equipped with cross country vehicles and hi-tech communications. To combat the dacoits in the rural/areas the Government has created a “Sindh Force”, so be it! We had recommended Federal Guards, but what’s in a name, it is the effectiveness in a particular role that matters. Within the cities the Metropolitan Police Forces need to be designated into three main segments besides the intelligence gathering and other specialised units like Traffic, Crime, etc. There should be the Main Police Force which should be earmarked for the Police Stations only, a Special Riot Police (SRP) and an equivalent of the Eagle Guards with better selection of manpower. Police Stations must have at least 5-6 mobile cars (Suzuki 1000s) equipped with radio communications for patrolling/quick reaction, 2-3 Suzuki Pick-ups for routine show-of-force patrol, 12-15 motorcycles mounted policemen (also wireless equipped) and 2 Suzuki Pick-ups for administrative duties. Only by increasing mobility and communications will the Main Police Force tasked for controlling crime will become effective in their area of responsibility. Each Police Station must maintain a computerised list of residences/people in their location on record, updating it as required. A wireless telemetry system control station could be a part of the complete set-up with such citizens looked upto the system who so desire and wish to pay for the services.

In all countries of the world, businesses and individual citizens have to take precautions themselves for their own safety. In Pakistan, till recently the only dependence has been on the chowkidar, that is now rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In effect, the concept of chowkidar must give way to the modern security guard. Effective, trained personnel have to be hired as security guards, as is the vogue in foreign countries, these may be directly recruited by the companies themselves or contracts may be given out to private security companies. In Pakistan, there has been a proliferation of private security companies, none of which have reached the standards obtaining in the developed world. This is not due to the lack of qualified manpower, in fact we are way ahead in the field of manpower quality, above the world industry average, it is just that the training on hi-tech requirements necessitated by the modern dacoit and/or terrorist is still not available and the companies may also be hamstrung by government regulations (or the lack of it), which very rightly stops the proliferation of weapons among them. What is needed is a one-window operation under the Minister of Interior. Furthermore, communications are virtually non-existent, only one company having the favour of the last government has the monopoly. The procedure is long enough to take you into the 21st century unless you have the right connections. At this time, after obtaining an NOC from the Federal and Provincial Governments, the private security companies must apply to Director General Telegraph & Telephone for permission to use radio frequencies. To do that the company must go and give 30 copies of a Survey of Pakistan map certifying exact location, to get hold of a map one has to get clearances from a myriad number of Government security agencies and so on and so forth, yet even after you cover this Cretan Maze you may not get a frequency for 3-4 years. Given the fact that the telephone system is not fully efficient, radio communications is the only sure bet for speedy response. The Catch-22 procedures involved ensures that seldom is the permission granted, on the contrary the dacoits are believed to have the most modern communications (and they have excused themselves from seeking the permissions). Because response due to breach of a security alarm is now possible in this hi-tech age on telemetry at almost the same cost as Telephone Auto-Dialer (which is almost obsolete in foreign countries and in any case is dependent upon the sorry state of our phone communications), these restrictions preclude an effective Home Alarm System from being hooked up to a Central Control/Monitor System based on wireless (with battery back up in case of electricity failures, also quite common).

The Federal Government has instituted correct procedures for grant of NOCs to private security companies. These include verification of the antecedents of the owners, their employees, financial state, detailed organisational structure etc. Once an NOC is given by the Federal Government and/or the Provincial Governments, pertinent extracts of the individual contracts should be registered with the respective and relevant police offices. They should be granted arms and communication licences, strict control being maintained through an effective police monitoring unit which should also provide effective liaison in an emergency. In this manner not only would the load be taken off from the official LEAs but the nascent industry would have adequate and balanced growth.

The private security companies have some responsibilities to (1) the Government (2) their clients and (3) their employees. These companies must ensure that do not misuse the privilege of having arms and communications licences. They must cooperate in all senses of the word to force-multiply the Government’s effectiveness to stop the situation from deteriorating further. They have to pick the right employees, verify their character and abilities carefully and weed out undesirables. To their clients, the security companies have to give the service which they are entitled to. They must not get involved into duties other than purely of security nature e.g union-busting, etc. It is their responsibility to ensure that no activity takes place against their clients which can be classified as criminal i.e robbery, pilferage, sabotage, kidnapping, assault, etc. As for the welfare of their employees it must be incumbent upon the companies to make payments for Employees Social Security Institutions (ESSI), Employees Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI), workmen’s Compensation, Children’s Education Cess, Group Insurances, etc. Since their’s is a high risk job, even to the peril of their lives, it becomes incumbent upon the Employers to give the maximum benefits they can within reason of their budgets, particularly medical care. For smaller companies this scheme may not be economically affordable but for bigger corporate entities, in commercial business or in industry, protection has to be through trained manpower, whether through their own hired guards or through private security companies is basically a choice they themselves have to make.

Given that government permissions will be forthcoming without the restraint of normal bureaucratic straitjacket and Mr Aitzaz Ahsan will be as effective as he is eloquent, the security scenario could be radically improved. With adequate communications the client would be given either guards and/or security alarms or a combination of both with radio/telemetry communications. When an intruder appears the guard’s action is automatic and self-explanatory, even without the presence of the guard if the security ring is breached in any manner (or the client presses a panic button) a coded wireless signal would alert the central monitor about location of incident instantaneously as well as spell out the actions to be taken i.e. directing a Quick Response Team to the location as well as simultaneously informing Police Control about details so that only police units could be alerted and effective road blocks set up to isolate the bandits. There is nothing new or original about this, it is the normal modus operandi in western and developed countries. The latest equipment should be acquired, with the lowering of custom duties on security equipment, it should be a matter of few weeks only before a varied display is freely available in the market. Caution should be exercised that obsolete or inferior equipment is not purchased because of price considerations, resulting in double jeopardy giving a false sense of security and vulnerability at the same time.

The nationalised banks did a much publicised exercise on choosing private security companies for their requirements last year through the auspices of the Pakistan Banking Council (PBC), the advertisement was by itself farcical. It was clearly designed for two private security companies with foreign equity who were the favourites of the Government, in utter contempt of national feelings it restricted applications for pre-qualification restricted to companies having foreign equity only! This was totally contemptuous of national feelings, it only gave 20 days for pre-qualification such was the way the deck of cards was stacked in their favour. When the media protested against this great travesty, the then Chairman PBC was only evasive, it was only in September 1989 that a pre-qualified list was circulated to the nationalised banks reluctantly including two purely Pakistani companies. Allegiance and ideology are changeable as chameleon in Pakistan and now a new campaign is on the way with fresh mentors to enter the public sector. The nationalised banks do not need guards from any private security company, their own security manpower needs to be motivated and trained, hi-tech equipment needs to be installed, their procedures have to be tightened and organisation streamlined. Private security companies could provide consultancy and management but the employees must be those of the banks, there should be no bone of contention created between the Bank’s unions and security guards, it will be disastrous for the banks image and efficiency. Our economy does not need any more man-made obstacles created by selfish vested interest in connivance with certain bank functionaries in high positions. Only cash transit services may be presently beyond the existing bank guards and can be farmed out to private security companies, the cash transit vans can be fabricated in Pakistan.

The primary responsibility of maintaining law and order remains that of the Government but they must have the type of help enumerated to guard against the present crime wave. The best way would be for communities to come together and invite suggestions from the professional individuals or companies very much like in any industry. Pakistan has excellent manpower potential, many ex-servicemen and former policemen/para-military personnel. The private security services industry is presently in a very nascent stage, it will take time to reach any level of sophistication. Without any doubt, foreign experts can and must provide consultancy and specialised training services to cope with hi-tech requirements but foreign equity does not bring in any benefit, it erodes sovereignty in the region of national security. Business has a natural concern at the moment, luckily for us Aitzaz Ahsan can think on his feet, one hopes his response will not be restrained by bureaucratic expertise, but will be fresh in approach and innovative in concept. A sound security environment will be the deciding factor in economic emancipation envisaged by the PM in her crusade against poverty.

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