RAWALPINDI: Less than a week after police were withdrawn from unauthorised individuals, three politicians and six religious personalities got back their guards.

Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Awami Muslim League president and MNA Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and MNA Ijazul Haq had asked the divisional police chief to give them back police guards as they faced threats from terror groups.

However, none of the politicians was given the same number of guards and police vehicles which they had before the SC directives.

“Nobody has been given Elite Force personnel,” said a senior police official.

Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed was keeping eight police guards while Rawalpindi mayor Sardar Naseem Khan had four police guards and one police vehicle.

A senior police official told Dawn that the decision on redeployment of police guards with three political figures was taken after reviewing the threat level at the divisional intelligence committees meeting presided over by the regional police officer Rawalpindi.

The meeting was attended by senior intelligence and district administration officials.

Following Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar’s directives, the Rawalpindi police withdrew 320 police personnel deployed with unauthorised political, non-political and religious personalities as well as judges, and serving and retired police officers.

However, the Supreme Court had also observed that certain laws or rules be evolved to provide police security to those individuals who were at high risk.

Some prominent lawyers have also approached the inspector general of police seeking police guards as they were handling cases of high profile political figures.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2018