RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has directed police around the province to deploy Quick Response Force (QRF) and Elite Force personnel around category A educational institutions for response in case of emergencies.

Divisional police chiefs and district administration officials have been directed to task committees constituted under the Punjab Security of Vulnerable Establishments Act, 2015 to visit the educational institutions for reviewing on-the-ground security arrangements.

In a directive to divisional police chiefs and divisional commissioners, the Punjab Home Department has cited intelligence agencies saying there are serious threats to educational institutions in the province and that they should be provided with foolproof security at all levels. Security measures already taken by the institutions themselves are also to be reviewed.

The vulnerability of educational institutions will be looked into. The security audit report of educational institutions is to be re-examined and loopholes pointed out in the previous reports are to be addressed. The security audit reports have been shared with the concerned authorities.

The home department has said the threats to educational institutions should be thoroughly examined and the required security measures should be arranged.

The administrations of private educational institutions should be sensitised about the threat and it should be ensured that they are following the standard operating procedures.

The police have been directed to make sure the required security arrangements are made by the administrations of educational institutions. Combing and search operations are to be carried out around sensitive institutions.

The police are to conduct regular patrolling around category A+ and A institutions during school timing.

A security audit of educational institutions conducted this year says there are 270 category A+ educational institutions in Rawalpindi division and several security loopholes were discovered in these institutions.

A security official told Dawn foreign schools, army schools and those with 500 students or more are categorised as A+. There are 20 such schools in the Rawalpindi district.

Though the local police had conducted a mock exercise five months ago to check its preparation for handling an emergency situation in an educational institution, there are still many schools which are not following the security SOP.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018