KARACHI: The Sindh police are set to acquire 10,000 9mm pistols and 2,000 12-gauge pump-action shotguns for the Karachi police amid growing security challenges which the authorities believe demand effective and easy-to-handle arms in urban areas for policing mainly against organised criminal and militant groups, it emerged on Friday.

The information was conveyed in a recent meeting chaired by Inspector General of Police A.D. Khowaja in the aftermath of the targeted killing of three policemen as the renewed wave of attacks not only caused loss of life but also raised serious questions about professionalism, policing skills and intelligence level of the law enforcement agency.

The meeting not only led to several decisions, but also prompted the Sindh police chief to issue new guidelines for his force across the city.

The POF is set to supply 10,000 9mm pistols and 2,000 shotguns

The fresh set of instructions directly came from the top when IG Khowaja issued directives for several measures that include regular firing exercises, deployment of young policemen at public places and replacement of old fleet of vehicles with new ones.

“During the same meeting, it was brought to the knowledge of the authorities about a tender on a C&F (cost and freight) basis inviting bids for 10,000 pistols and 2,000 12-gauge pump-action shotguns to be distributed among the operational force in Karachi,” said an official, citing details of the meeting. “There is a principled decision that the conventional weapons, which have been in the use of the police force for the past two decades, will gradually be replaced with their improved version. Cities like Karachi have become increasingly militarised over the years and the old models are turning ineffective in such a situation.”

He said the process to acquire new supplies of arms was expected most probably from the Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) and in the first phase the force in the three zones of the city would be armed with the latest guns.

There was a conviction in the police hierarchy that apart from the lack of professionalism and policing skills, the arms currently in use were not easy to handle and unfit in Karachi’s security environment, he added.

Currently, the official said, the city police used sub-machine guns (calibre 7.62mm), AK-47 assault rifles, commonly known as Kalashnikov, and G-3 rifles. Similarly, he added, 9mm metric calibre SMGs of MP-5 were also in use of some police units.

In the past few years, retired military officials have also been helping the Sindh police in ascertaining the kind of guns needed for policing mainly in Karachi. The recent procurement of arms is seen on the same lines.

“A reflection of that approach can been seen in the Special Security Unit (SSU),” said the official. “You would not see SSU commandos carrying conventional arms while patrolling roads. Along with AK-47 and sub-machine guns [7.62mm], these commandos are also armed with M-4 rifles.”

He said the SSU weapons included M-4 rifles of three-round burst with 16-inch barrel, holographic red dot sight, a magnifier and two extra magazines. The unit also had 7.62x51mm M-4 sniper rifles with 20-inch barrel, night vision compatible long-range scope and 308 suppressors, he added.

“The SSU, you can say, is a complete unit with modern weaponry. It has also sniper rifles with 24.4-inch barrel, FMG-9 rifles, PS-90 rifles, MP-7 rifles and other modern gadgets. We have one good unit in the Sindh police and now the move is to modernise arms of other units and regular police of the province. In the first phase the Karachi police would be equipped with those,” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017