The federal government announced the launch of the “Safe Secure Islamabad” initiative to ramp up the security of the federal capital.
The announcement comes two days after 12 people were killed and 36 were injured in a suicide blast outside the district and sessions court building in Islamabad’s G-11 area. The incident occurred as international events were being hosted in the capital, including the first one-day international (ODI) match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi.
The announcement about the new initiative was made by Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry while he was addressing a press conference outside Parliament House alongside Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Irfan Nawaz Memon and Inspector General of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi.
He said that as part of the programme, a first-of-its-kind new ‘Secure Neighbourhood’ survey would be launched that would allow the administration to know who was occupying every house, shop or office in the capital with information about the number of people, their age, their nationality, whether the place was rented or self-owned and more.
The minister said the information would not only help in providing the public with municipal services but would also provide large volumes of data to the government for security purposes.
“In the next stage, it will be declared mandatory for all vehicles in the city to have electronic tags. There will be no vehicle in Islamabad without green tags that are cleared regarding the environment, and electronic tags, which we also call M-Tag or e-tags, so every moment of any vehicle in Islamabad can be monitored.”
The minister said that Islamabad was “very important” as the country’s capital. “The administration has more responsibility than the administration of other cities,” he said, adding that the police and district administration not only had to serve citizens but also protect foreign diplomats, guests, officials and other important people.
Chaudhry said the steps were taken by the interior minister and the ministry under the prime minister’s leadership to ensure that the capital looked as secure as it looked beautiful.
The state minister said the “Secure Neighbourhood” project would reach completion in the next three months.
He added that public schools, colleges, businesses, traders, bodies and current and past officials would be taken on board as well to disseminate the survey.
Chaudhry assured the public that the information would “remain safe and secure with government agencies and the Islamabad administration.”
Details of survey app
Providing more details on the survey, DC Memon said an application was launched by the name of “ICT Household Survey” and anyone living in Islamabad could download it and add details of their residence, residents, servants and ownership status therein.
He said teams would begin door-to-door surveys from Monday to add people to the database. Memon added that the data would also pinpoint which houses had information missing about them and the administration would subsequently retrieve it, whether by “force or other means”.
He said the above was the only way to declare Islamabad safe and secure.
The DC went on to say that he would share further details about the steps related to the vehicles in the next two to three days. “The tagging mandate would not only be for vehicles in the city but also those entering it.”
Meanwhile, the police chief said the collection of data through the survey was very important for security purposes. “The police teams would also accompany the door-to-door survey teams,” he said.