January 19, 2008	Saturday	Muharram 09, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 18: The city that is no stranger to sectarian and ethnic strife has only a handful of security cameras installed at strategic points – and that too only in what used to be district south – as a wave of suicide bombings sweep the entire country, it emerged on Friday.

Top police officials privy to the locations of the security cameras told Dawn they had little faith in the efficiency of these devices. They pointed out that the cameras had limited recording capacity and the quality of their footage left a lot to be desired.

They recalled that when a suicide bomber hit the US consulate in March 2006, only the diplomatic mission’s camera caught the crucial footage of the suicide bomber getting into the explosives-laden car parked near the naval hospital.

They said the US consulate – target of at least two suicide bombings after 9/11 – had invested considerably in the installation of security cameras around the diplomatic mission and the consul-general’s residence.

In addition, the sources said, the traffic police had installed security cameras at the Metropole intersection and the monitoring room of these cameras was housed in the Metropole traffic section.

They added that security cameras kept a watchful eye on areas surrounding the PIDC intersection in which at least two five-star hotels were located.

The sources said the central police office on I.I. Chundrigar Road and the Rangers headquarters on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road also had security cameras but they were mostly used for internal surveillance.

“It can be safely said that apart from a handful of cameras in the city’s south zone, also described as the high-security zone in police parlance, the rest of the city has no security cameras,” said a high-ranking security official on the condition of anonymity.

Another senior police officer told Dawn that the Karachi police, with the assistance and cooperation of the Pak-Muharram Association, had installed security cameras in the Nishtar Park, venue of religious ceremonies and sermons in the holy month.

He said that in line with past practice the police had also hired security cameras which would be installed at many places along the route of the Muharram processions.

He added that this year three spots had been identified where cameras would be installed and monitoring rooms set up.

“Cameras will be installed in the Nishtar Park. Outside the venue some cameras are already in place. Cameras will also be installed near the Mama Parsi school, which lies on the middle point of the procession route, and the Bolton Market, from where the procession turns into a Kharadar lane, on M.A. Jinnah Road.”

“I personally feel that at least Sharea Faisal should also have security cameras at such strategic locations like the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam and Karsaz Road which goes to the Expo Centre,” said the police officer.

He recalled that marathon meetings had been held by the police department on numerous occasions for the purchase of security cameras but nothing came out of them. “Interested private firms gave presentations on such projects and but their presentations ended up in the dusty files of the headquarters.”