KARACHI, Sept 8: Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has directed the capital city police officer (CCPO) to withdraw unnecessary police guards and gunmen and bring down the number of police personnel on security duties to a reasonable level wherever required.

Quoting the home minister, CCPO Waseem Ahmed said that unauthorized and unsanctioned guards and gunmen should be physically checked and wherever there was an excessive deployment, the same should be withdrawn.

Mr Ahmed said that those police officers who were doing the operations duty could keep gunmen with them but at a rationalized level.

However, guards and gunmen of the police officers other than those on operations duty would be withdrawn, he added.

He said that the basic idea behind the “security headquarters” set up on Sept 1 was to account for every man properly and to minimize the chances of irregularities.

Referring to the data pertaining to the police guards and gunmen, Mr Ahmed said that it needed to be authenticated.

Effective Sept 1, all police guards and gunmen will draw their salaries from the security headquarters and ensure their physical presence.

They must possess a certificate confirming that they are performing security duty with an officer or politician named in the certificate, according to the CCPO.