RAWALPINDI: Quick response units of the city police have been put on stand-by to avert any terror attempt in the wake of the horrific and depraved attack on a Peshawar school.

Meanwhile, 60 schools found not implementing the security strategy prepared by the police for the educational institutions in the garrison city have been warned of being sealed if they did not take the safety measures by a specific time.

All 60 institutions, which include military, missionary and co-education schools and institutions run by NGOs, have been categorised by the police as ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ for the purpose, police sources said.

Category ‘A’ relates to schools having proper compound walls,with razor-wire on top, security guards and CCTV cameras. They are considered less vulnerable to terror attack.

Those having proper compound wall and guards but not the other security apparatus have been put under Category “B”,meaning satisfactory security but needs tightening.

And Category ‘C’ signifies the schools having poor security arrangements, which are unsatisfactory and need to be warned to improve their security.

Regional Police Officer Akhtar Umar Hayat Laleka told Dawn that security for schools and colleges located in the city was reviewed in the wake of the huge tragedy in Peshawar. Police have been deployed wherever it was considered important, the officer said.

Security was particularly beefed up around schools and colleges located in the cantonment area, in addition to the schools located in the city areas.

RPO laleka said that the 60 schools had been directed to improve their security, with the threat that those which failed to meet the security criteria set by the police will be sealed.

“Yes, Shop and Security Act will be applied to educational institutions. They have to improve their security on their own,” he said.

Rawalpindi police have decided to establish pickets on the roads leading to schools to ensure the safety of students.

A policeman on the rooftop and another at the school gate guarded the military and missionary schools located in the Civil Lines circle and the district police’s Elite Force patrolled the streets as part of the tightened security.

In a related development, the Inspector General of Police Punjab Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera has ordered City Police Officers and District Police Officers across the province to hold meetings with military authorities to chalk out comprehensive security plans for educational institutions and other important installations.

Published in Dawn December 20th , 2014