LAHORE: Over 6,000 policemen from the operations wing of Lahore police are guarding VIPs, VVIPs and their families, leaving people at the mercy of outlaws and terrorists.

Out of the 6,000, 2,000 policemen have been permanently designated to protect personalities they are not authorised to, including politicians, national and provincial lawmakers, ministers, bureaucrats, retired senior police officers, judges and their families.

The operations wing is an integral and major component of the police department whose primary objective is to fight crime and protect lives and properties of citizens. Though police authorities have withdrawn 800 policemen from non-operational duties in the past, but they seem helpless in retrieving a large number of the remaining subordinates and foot constables, an official privy to the information told Dawn.

Over 6,000 policemen guard VIPs, VVIPs, their families

He said the situation has turned from bad to worse since the Punjab government shelved a proposal sent by the Lahore police department to address a dearth of operational force in a city of around 10 million. He said the Punjab government has introduced several new projects such as the Dolphin Force and Police Response Units to fight street crime, but nothing has been done to address the human resource deficiency.

According to an analysis of police-population ratio, Lahore needs one policeman for every group 200 people. However, the current police-population ratio here is desperately lowest at one to 2,000.

Currently, the total strength of the operations wing of Lahore police is 17,824. Out of them, 7,372 policemen are posted in police stations of all six divisions, while 7,031 are part of the reserved force at Police Lines Qila Gujjar Singh to meet any emergency.

The statistics available with Dawn portray a dismal picture of violation of Police Rules that clearly define job description of police force of the operations wing, which is to guard citizens and fight street/property crime.

Figures reveal that only 10pc out of the 7,372 policemen at police stations are discharging operational duties. Many of them are called daily for ‘special assignments’ during visits of federal government officials, lawmakers, bureaucrats, politicians and for the security of Chinese official guests.

Some 250 of the policemen have been permanently deputed at Data Darbar, 210 at the Lahore High Court and 80 for safeguarding the Capital City Police Office building. Over 1,500 policemen are on guard daily at 273 public buildings of Lahore, including Punjab Assembly, Governor House and Chief Minister House. An equal number of personnel are sent daily for judicial and jail duties.

The statistics reveal that 1,237 policemen are part of the security division to cater to security requirements of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and their families in Lahore.

As many as 1,020 Elite Force personnel, who are meant for combat operations and raids, are also deployed for VVIPs, foreign dignitaries and senior police officers. Moreover, a force of 587 policemen is part of the Flying Squad for VVIP security.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2015