Hired Security

By Irfan Bukhari –

Guards everywhere and yet an overwhelming sense of insecurity Pique exclusive investigative report on private security guards and firms operating in Pakistan

Over the years, the security situation in the country has worsened, spurring a deep sense of insecurity amongst all sections of the society. The vastly corrupt and increasingly obsolete bureaucratic setup of law enforcing authorities has forced those who could afford with no option but to turn to private security guards for their protection.

The increasing demand led to mushroom growth of private security companies. Mostly they churn out poorly trained and poorly paid human material without ascertaining their antecedents. There are only a few companies that can boast of professionalism. Newspapers regularly carry out reports of bank robberies where the guards themselves help in looting. Still, given the poor law and order situation, keeping private security guards has become a necessity and not a display of opulence.

Afzal Ali Shigri, a former Inspector General of Sindh police,  is of the view that private security firms should be discouraged.

“It has a widespread impact on the society and spreads fear,” Shigri says.  “When the state fails to provide people electricity, they buy generators. Similarly when the state fails to protect people’s lives and property, they resort to hiring security guards.”

Flashback to the 1980s: despite Zia’s martial law having turned the country literally into a police state, there were no no-go areas, no gated communities, and no guards anywhere to seen. Then spawned the sectarian violence, mostly owing to our security agencies’ handiwork, a certain Salafist Arabian nation pumping petrodollars into our religious entities to start a proxy war with the Shia Iran for the fear that its Revolution may spread elsewhere in Sunni strongholds of the ummah, and the guns and drugs that were a corollary to our Afghan ‘adventure’ against the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan and the subsequent jihad in Kashmir.

As a consequence, those idyllic times when the country was gun-and drug-free gave way to proliferation of both. Religious militancy and free availability of guns and open-ended financial largesse was a combustible combination and Pakistan has never been the same.

The erosion in people’s confidence has been such that security guards are ubiquitous everywhere you go: stationed outside the mosques, in the shopping mall, on the roadside, in streets and mohallahs. The debate, with people like Shigri on one side of the aisle, is a complex one. They oppose the practice, arguing that security guards everywhere spread a sense of insecurity and reflect trends of violence in the society.

The hot shots and the pretenders

People representing different strata of society like politicians, businessmen, top officials of multinational companies, feudal lords, celebrities, religious or minorities’ leaders and retired top government and military servants hire the services of private security guards. Of late, some more visible media personalities too have found a way amongst the elite that has a guard or three looking the part.

While it is true that for a great number of prominent people, security is a bugbear, a very potent threat. The people of all hues mentioned above have either been hit by the terrorists/militants or been kidnapped for ransom. So, nobody can dare deny, security is a concern that runs chills down the spines of many. And quite a few from this lot are compelled to surround themselves and their families with round the clock security.

Yet for a very large number of people, being surrounded by security is also a status symbol, for it helps them take delight with a sense of arrival in the big league. And they flaunt it, like they would their luxury jeeps, expensive snazzy watches and branded designer wear as a symbol of wealth and status.

The politicians generally hire private guards but the supreme perk of power is to have a posse of Police, the Rangers or the Frontier Constabulary (FC) standing guard. The politicians who feel real threats from multiple quarters – particularly from the lethal and unforgiving religious militant outfits – always have their own trustworthy security around themselves and their families as well.

Take, for instance, the case of the Sheikh family from Punjab’s sectarian hotbed, Jhang. The PML-N MNA Sheikh Muhammad Akram and his scion Sheikh Waqqas Akram, former federal minister for education, represent the ones who cannot be lax about their security. The bloody vendetta between the Sheikhs and a notorious sectarian outfit started in the early 1990s when the now-banned (but since reborn under a different nomenclature) Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) accused the assassination of its leader and MNA Maulana Isarul Qasmi on the Sheikh family and later on Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal, elder sibling of Sheikh Akram was assassinated, with fingers pointed at the SSP.

Another political family from Faisalabad was also obliged to engage private security when the brother of Mushataq Cheema (former federal minister for textile during Musharraf regime) was killed by a sectarian group.

Due to a number of botched assassination attempts on him in the past, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao can also not move without security guards. Former President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur, always keeps her loyal guards from the Baloch Zardari clan in addition to a sizable police contingent provided by the PPP’s Sindh government.

The Bilour family of Peshawar has been another victim of the Taliban’s reign of terror in those parts. Targeted relentlessly, the elder statesman of this prominent political family belonging to the ANP, Bashir Bilour was murdered in a targeted suicide attack. Owais Muzaffar Tappi, the PPP leader and Asif Zardari’s foster brother, is someone who enjoys maximum private security in Sindh while PPP MNA Abdul Qadir Patel also moves around in Karachi with dozens of private and government security guards in tow.

Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and his immediate family members have increased their security manifold after the kidnapping of the former PM’s son Haider Gilani for ransom on the eve of the elections. The sources familiar with the kidnapping aver that the kidnapping could have been averted if Haider had greater and better security. Sons of former PMs Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also keep personal security. Even the children of a recently disqualified parliamentarian Sumera Malik also keep private guards.

According to sources, Senator Waqqar and his family have 37 retired Special Services Group (SSG) men tending to their security. Former federal ministers Ameer Muqaam from Swat and Arbab Alamgir from Peshawar, a number of the MQM parliamentarians like Haider Abbas Rizvi have private guards – and these are amongst a few from the entire political class that either employs private security or enjoys it at the public’s expense.

According to Col (Retd) Tauqirul Islam, chairman APSAA (All Pakistan Security Agencies Association) having private guards who are not employed through licensed private security companies is illegal and no private individual can hire private guards or display weapons. “This unlawfulness is happening in plain sight as there is no oversight,” he lamented. According to law, said he, none except law enforcement agencies personnel and private company security guards can display arms.

On the other hand, occasionally police authorities also encourage politicians who are on the hit list of terrorists to keep maximum private security. A source in home department Punjab told Pique that during the 2008 general elections, the then Home Secretary Punjab Khusro Parvez offered special training courses for privately engaged security guards of around eight politicians of the province in the Elite Force Training Centre, Lahore. The generous offer however didn’t find any enthusiastic takers.

Baleegh-ur-Rehman, the state minister for interior, claims that under the new dispensation, the culture of pomp and panoply was undergoing a change. “The PML-N ministers move without security escorts and blaring hooters, for we are mindful that it is the duty of the government to make peoples’ lives safe,” he added. Rehman said, there was no display of arms in Islamabad and masked guards were absent from the capital’s streets since the installation of the PML-N government.

The minister is right, but only partially. In Islamabad, there is no display of arms but when the PML-N ministers move in their respective constituencies in the Punjab, the gun-toting escorts are too many to count. Similarly, the families of the Sharif Brothers and the Punjab government’s jack of all trades, Rana Sanaullah enjoy the maximum private and government provided security. Sanaullah’s heavy security detail was on full display in a TV programme, Ek Din Geo Ke Sath.

A source in the Punjab government told Pique that the provincial government had constituted a cabinet committee to list out people under real threats so that provincial security was provided to them.

The heads of religious and sectarian parties outgun politicians by a distance. Sources close to Pakistan Sunni Tehreek revealed that its head Sarwat Ijaz Qadri would not enter in any district of Punjab until as many as a full 100 stand guards – all provided by the local party officials. The head of defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, which now operates under the banner of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi moves with heavy private security guards who carry ‘illegal weapons’ all over the country. Muavia Azam, son of assassinated Maula Azam Tariq also moves with dozens of guards.

The same is the case with Shia organizations like Allama Sajid Naqvi of Shia Ulema Council and Allama Ameen Shaheedi of Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen who keep dozens of private guards. Jamaat-ud-Daawa Amir Hafiz Saeed is always escorted by the private guards trained from the Kashmir jihad days. The Sunni Ittehad Council’s head Hamid Raza, son of late Sahibzada Fazal Karim, also moves around with a heavy contingent of security guards. Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri also moves with heavy private security escorts and how can one in Pakistan forget scenes of his delivering sermons from a bullet proof container on Jinnah Avenaue Islamabad few months back. Apart from the threats which compel him not to take risks, Maulana Fazlur Rehman is very fond of private and government provided security escorts and protocols.

An official of the Punjab police on condition of anonymity said that in the years 2010-2011 Uzbek militants had been serving leaders of Sunni sectarian outfits while the authorities had also proof that some Iranian guards had been doing security duties with some Shia leaders in late ‘1980s to mid ‘1990s.

Another category of people who hire the services of private guards is the businessmen and head honchos of multinational companies – particularly if they were white and of European or American origin. The multinationals companies feel threatened from religious extremists who have targeted them before. The outlets of multinational food chains have suffered numerous attacks by religious zealots in the past during every religion-driven protest demonstrations.

The leading billionaire businessmen of Pakistan’s major cities like Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar etc. also need private securities to counter threats of robberies, extortion and kidnappings. Pakistan’s top business tycoon Malik Riaz has employed hundreds of retired military commandoes. Some business giants of the country also own private security companies, which makes self-sufficient in catering to their own security needs. The care from the business community grew manifold after rampant kidnappings for ransom from Peshawar and extortion incidents in Karachi. The kidnapping for ransom of Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain former Governor Punjab Salman Taseer made Lahore’s traders and opulent class pay greater attention to their security arrangements.

Another businessman from Lahore, Aamir Malik, son-in-law of former chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) Gen (Retd) Tariq Majid, returned home in 2012 after his family paid hefty sum of money to the abductors from North Waziristan. The 35-year-old Aamir Malik was kidnapped for ransom by Mulla Mansoor Group associated with Laskhar-e-Jhangvi al Aalmi in August 2010. The state failed to recover but the ransom paid saved him from being murdered.

The feudal lords of Balochistan like Bugtis, Marris, Jamalis, Rinds, Raisanis do not trust private guards. They possess private armies to protect themselves and settling family feuds with their blood enemies. Feudal lords from Sindh like Magsis, Zardaris, Jatois, Sadaats too keep guards which are sometimes hired from the rings of dacoits who not only protect them but also settle their rivalries with their opponents.

Not only tribes representing upper class, but the lower class tribes of Sindh too harbour feuds for generations. One example is the feud between Ogahi and Teghani tribes which started in 2004 over a minor issue of stealing a buffalo but cost more than 100 lives till its settlement by a local jirga. The upbringing of children in such environment makes them future possible security men of the Waderas hailing from influential and respected tribes in Sindh.

Every MPA in the Sindh Assembly hailing from rural constituencies moves with private security escorts. The landlords from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa too move around with private guards in their native towns where the police is less likely to intervene compared to metros like Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Peshawar where they reduce the number of guards and avoid displaying arms.

Pique’s investigation revealed that for the last few years many film actresses, stage dancers and high level escorts of Karachi, Lahore and some other cities have started hiring guards for the ‘protection from former ‘friends’, jilted lovers or those who wanted to impose themselves as friends for their lives are replete with adventures of ditching and infidelity for ever greater gains. Nargis, the former film actress from Lahore faced numerous incidents of torture when she ditched a famed police-encounter-specialist inspector of the Punjab police who had previously rescued her from her estranged husband.

Owing to threats from the Taliban, almost all film actresses and other female artists have either migrated from the restive province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or hired private security guards. Ghazala Javed, a young and exceptionally fetching Pashto singer, was killed in Peshawar in mid 2012. During her lifetime, she always defied Taliban pressure to stop singing. Ghazala was born in the Swat valley but when Taliban captured the valley, she was forced to migrate to Peshawar. Another Pastho singer Wagma also maintains a heavy security contingent with her though due to Taliban threats whenever she is back home from the UAE – a move she has made out of constant security threats.

Some media persons with bold and controversial voices have also starting hiring private security guards after receiving threats. During the previous PPP government some leading anchorpersons even enjoyed Police, the Rangers and the FC escorts thanks to being connected with the presidency or the interior ministry but such privileges have been withdrawn after Nawaz Sharif took over. Recently, Jasmeen Manzoor was forced to leave her job and flee the country due to life threats, though now she is back on air.

A source in Geo TV told Pique that once Sana Bucha, who was hosting talk show in the same channel, received very serious life threats after doing a programme against a sectarian party in which Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the late Sahibzada Fazal Karim and Sheikh Waqqas Akram were the guests. Consequently, to appease the wrath of sectarian mullahs she did another programme very next day with Allama Tahir Ashrafi and Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi on the guest panel.

The unfortunate chain of incidents of violence against religious minorities since the Independence, in particular after their weaponization post the 1980s Afghan war, has triggered fear and sense of insecurity in the religious minorities hence they too are using the hired guns. Shahbaz Bhatti, former federal minister for minorities was assassinated by the same mindset.

Under the influence of same sense of insecurity Hindu community in Sindh is employing services of private guards. Ammar Guriro, a Karachi based journalist who specializes on religious minorities issues, said: “The Hindu community in various cities of Sindh including Jacobabad, Larkana, Shikarpur, Ghotki and Sukkur are hiring the services of Baloch security guards for their protection.” Similarly, the Ahmadi community also hires services of private guards for their protection particularly of their worship places.

A number of influential families having history of feuds are also compelled to take the services of guards rather these families groom and train their own little armies to save their existence. Ilyas Jatt’s family feud with Warraichs in Gojra, Ghurkis feud with Sheikh Rohail Asghar’s family in Lahore, Nawaz Khokhar family’s animosity with late Malik Barri and his family in Islamabad and Shafqat Rabera’s feud in Okara are cases in point. In Balochistan family feuds turn into tribal vendettas, as between Rinds and Raisanis. And with every tribe having its own armed to the teeth lashkars and foot soldiers, the situation could get out of hand very quickly.

Everyone knows in the country about Pervez Musharraf’s trial under Article 6 but very few people are familiar with the fact that he has hired the services of around 100 retired SSG commandoes for his security who were meticulous vetted from across the country by his security team before Musharraf’s return to country after self-imposed exile.

Quite a few retired military men as well as government servants especially from the police, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other sensitive organizations also keep private guards. Malik Naveed former Inspector General Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) migrated to Islamabad after retirement owing to safety concerns.

This fact may astonish many that some serving police officers from a Station House Officer (SHO) to District Police Officer (DPO) rank also use the services of their own trustworthy private security guards apart from official security. The SHOs who keep their own security guards are the ones known for fake police encounters. The insiders in police claim that these private guards are also used in these police encounters.

Diverse kinds of guards

Like the clients whose types are numerous who employ the services of private security guards, the guards too can be divided into dozens of kinds. The most of the guards working in various private security companies are retired army personnel (SSG, normal corporal). Retired SSG commandoes generally join big private security companies which have multinational companies on their client list. But, sometimes they also provide direct services to business tycoons or retired top military officers etc.

They are highly trained, disciplined, strict, and at the same time fussy about food, accommodation and duty timings. This class of guards also finds lucrative jobs in the UAE and other countries of the Middle East. They are the most highly paid class of guards and are paid between Rs 35,000 to 45,000 depending upon the courses they passed and their age.

An ordinary retired corporal from military is also paid better due to his skills and discipline. They are usually proud in nature. They can operate G3 rifles and get salary package ranging from Rs 10,000 to 12,000. Retired rangers also join private security companies and their demand is high particularly in Sindh as they are valued for their shooting encounter experiences with robbers in interior Sindh and Karachi.

Another category of private security guards is the one consisting of former jihadis who got military training during the decade-long Afghan war and Kashmir freedom struggle. After the closure of both the fronts these trained boys came to their home districts and on getting no employment they started doing guarding services with local politicians, businessmen, heads of sectarian/jihadi outfits etc. Some of these boys also joined small private security firms.

They are very clean, offer prayers punctually and dislike loquacity. They get salary above than normal guards but are valued lower than SSG men. Now they have shifted from killing people in battlefields to saving people from criminals and terrorists on the streets of Pakistan.

Absconders and criminals though not inducted by private security companies are sometimes employed for guarding jobs by politicians and landlords. Police sources claim that 65 per cent private security guards in Sindh who are not registered with security companies are in fact absconders from KPK and Punjab. Such persons are sheltered by those people who themselves are engaged in criminal activities. A source in Punjab Police told Pique that Ilyas Jatt and Warraich families from Gojra, Abid Raza PML-N MNA from Kotla Gujrat, Shafqat Rabera from Okara and Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain from Gujrat reportedly patronize such outlaws. Sometimes trigger-happy youngsters also become security guards of politicians, sectarian leaders for adventurism, just for kicks. They do free jobs and feel happy over carrying sophisticated arms.

Unemployed, disappointed youth is yet another category of security guards. Sometimes they join the security industry deliberately to earn livelihood and sometimes they are pushed to do the job. A sorry incident occurred in Gojra where a sitting PML-N parliamentarian Dr Nisar handed over a gun to a graduate who had asked the elected lawmaker to find a government job for him during Musharraf regime when the same lawmaker was in the National Assembly from the PML-Q.

The elitist of the elite security guards today in Pakistan are those who were trained by the United States (allegedly by Blackwater). According to sources in the interior ministry, few years back the U.S. authorities chose 126 retired SSG commandoes who were later on trained by an infamous private American security company Blackwater. The purpose of this training was to prepare a reliable pool of local security guards who were supposed to perform security duties at the U.S. diplomatic facilities in various cities of Pakistan. “But when the Blackwater’s presence in Pakistan was felt as a security threat by the concerned quarters, they were asked to leave the country on a short notice,” an official of interior ministry told Pique, adding that their trained men started searching jobs in open market. Nowadays these security guards are doing duties with some business tycoons of the country.

The leaders of religious and sectarian parties need not hiring services of private security firms as their activists do these duties from district to national level. Sectarian outfits representing Sunni school of thought have thousands of activists who were trained in Afghan War in Al-Badar 1, Al-Badar 2 and other training camps while sources in the security agencies told Pique that the activists of Shia organizations get military training in some parts of interior Sindh including Nawabshah and Larkana. It is an open secret now that the political activists of some ethnic parties were also trained in India. The students of religious seminaries perform the duties of security guards outside mosques and madrassas with prohibited calibre weapons. All these religious activists perform free duties at the name of getting the rewards in paradise.

As Pashtuns are known for their bravery and love for fire arms, it has become a fashion in Karachi and Sindh to hire Pashtun guards. They are loyal but temperamentally mercurial. A PML-N MNA from Sargodha Mansoor Ali Shah was killed by his own Pashtun guard when the lawmaker abused him. In Sindh, PPP leaders also like employing Pasthun guards against their political opponents. Abdul Qadir Patel PPP MNA from Karachi keeps dozens of Pashtun guards. Among Pashtun guards, Shinwari and Bangash tribesmen are preferred. The experts of the security industry advise not to employ Afridi guards.

Laws and loopholes

For many years working without any rules and regulations, private security companies were first registered under Companies Ordinance 1984 but the same Ordinance too lacked special regulations needed to check security agencies. The federal government emulated Private Security Companies Ordinance 2001 for Islamabad which was originally crafted by Sindh. All four provinces enacted their own laws including Sindh Private Security Agencies (Regulation& Control) Ordinance 2000, Punjab Private Security Companies (Regulation & Control) Ordinance 2002, NWFP Private Security Agencies Ordinance 2002 and Procedure For Private Security Companies in Balochistan.

Any person or business entity that intends to establish a private security company has to first approach the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), which registers it under the Companies Ordinance 1984. After the registration, the SECP asks the ministry of interior to grant an NOC that is obtained after clearance is given by all the intelligence and law enforcement agencies. However, this NOC is not enough to operate in a province unless a licence is granted by the respective provincial home departments.

“There are loopholes in the existing laws which must be plugged by the government,” said Lt. Col (Retd) Ehteshamul Haq, secretary general All Pakistan Security Agencies Association (APSAA) . He said some people with no experience in security field were buying established security agencies. “Such persons or groups should have no permission to run security agencies,” he said.

The private security companies are now under the watchful eye of the Sindh home department which issued show cause notices to dozens of companies for their involvement in bank robberies and criminal offenses. Following this development, a committee comprising officials of the home department was also constituted for inspection of the private security companies’ compliance with the Sindh Private Security Agencies Rules 2001.

As per law, private security guards cannot wear army or police uniforms and such outfits which resemble them. But, this law too is violated without any fear of accountability by the influential people. The guards performing security duties with religious leaders do not hesitate in wearing military commando uniforms. Sometimes, the wealthy clients who hire retired SSG men ask them to wear commando uniforms which may occasionally land both the employer and the employee in trouble. A leading physician of Lahore along his retired commando guard who was wearing official military uniform was sent behind the bars few months back in Lahore cantonment.

Lt. Col (Retd) Ehteshamul Haq claimed that some madrassa runners had also secured licenses of private security agencies from the Sindh Home Department. “A number of politicians own private security agencies in Sindh,” he said declining to reveal their names due to possible threats.

Col (Retd) Tauqirul Islam, chairman APSAA admits that the provincial ordinances, such as the Sindh Private Security Agencies Ordinance 2000, which were promulgated during Musharraf  have inadequate clauses to keep a strict check on and penalise the security companies for any wrongdoing.

When guards turn criminals

In the last few years security guards have been known to indulge in various crimes, particularly in bank robberies in Karachi. Several robberies were planned and executed with the connivance of security guards. In April this year Hamza Ahmed was shot dead by the security guard of another boy, Mohammed Shoaib, in the Defence Housing Authority, Karachi. Late Murtaza Bhutto’s Palestinian private guards had attacked a police station to get Al-Zulfikar activists freed many years back.

APSAA secretary general Lt. Col (Retd) Ehteshamul Haq says that the robberies in banks happen due to two reasons. “Firstly, when untrained guards are hired from unauthorized security agencies; secondly, owing to bank management’s instructions to guards to not open fire in any case as the bank’s cash is insured.”

Defending the role of private security companies’ guards, APSAA chairman Col (Retd) Tauqirul Islam said that the criminality of some guards is not enough to discredit the whole institution. “Sometimes policemen are also found guilty in crimes, even in robberies and murders, but it does not necessarily mean that the whole institution consists of criminals. There are thousands of security guards, and some may commit a crime,” he added.

A flourishing industry

According to data available with APSAA, more than 300 security agencies are operating in the country with the majority, 170 to be precise, being its members. The Karachi statistics underline the gravity of the situation; private security guards outnumber police officers in Karachi by a ratio of nearly three-to-one. According to official estimates, there are 80,000 security guards in the metropolis as opposed to 29,000 sanctioned police officers.  “There are 150,000 registered security guards in Sindh and they have outnumbered police force. We also provided security services to the government in last general elections,” said Lt Col (Retd) Ihtasham.

One of the few businesses that should understandably thrive amidst terrorism, bank robberies, kidnappings and extortion is private security. Today every branch of Bank, every jewelers shop, every educational institution, every mosque, every house in posh locality, every cinema, every eatery … you name any place needs guard rather number of guards. Multinational companies hire these services from well-reputed private security companies while small traders or individuals wanting security for their homes hire security guards from wherever they get comfortable deal.

According to government rules, it is mandatory for transport companies to have one security guard onboard in en-route buses. Background discussions with the officials of transport companies revealed that they hire third-rate, untrained guards who also serve as conductors etc. in the vehicles to earn maximum profits. Innumerable incidents have occurred where robbers were successful after snatching guns from bus guards. The provincial governments have also issued a similar notification for ensuring the private security for all educational institutions from school to university level.

Weapons guards carry

Private security companies are granted arms licenses of Short Gun, 9mm Pistol and Rifles. “Now the Sindh government has promised to grant us licenses of 222 and 223 Rifles. It is necessary to fight against the criminals who are equipped with modern automatic weapons,” said Col (Retd) Tauqirul Islam.

Under existing laws of the land, no security agency is granted Kalashnikov license but on the other hand private guards of influential people carry guns of prohibited calibre like AK-47, M16, M4 and Steyr Aug for which they do not have retainer licenses. “Politicians and other influential people get licenses of weapons of prohibited calibre for themselves and hand them over to their private guards, which is against the law. “No man can give any arm licensed under his name to any other person. Even if he gets a retainer license it will be issued only on the names of his blood relations,” says Col (Retd) Tauqirul Islam.

Former IG Police Sindh, Afzal Shigri differed with Tauqir saying that the private guard could carry arms of his employer if his name was mentioned in the retainer-ship block of the license.

When a politician was asked how his private guards could carry arms whose licenses were not on guards’ names and even their names were not mentioned in retainer-ship blocks, he replied, “Private guards are not life-time employees. If we secure licenses of Kalashnikovs or other prohibited calibre arms under their names after considerable efforts, seeking approval from the prime minister, what will we do if the guard leaves the job?” He said it was also impractical to have guards’ names in retainer-ship blocks of the licenses, adding, “the existing laws needed amendments”.

Armoured security fetish

The hot shots tooling around in armoured Land Cruisers or similar fortified luxury jeeps also equip their guards well, their automatic weapons openly flaunted in double-cabin SUVs. The trend has spawned a new industry: the business of armoured car manufacturing and customization. And apart from foreign missions, politicians, businessmen and senior officials import these pricey bulletproof vehicles by the hundreds every year.

In addition, five local facilities, one in Lahore, and two each in Karachi and Islamabad are converting ordinary off-roaders into armoured jeeps. The Pakistan Ordinance Factory, Wah Cantt has also jumped on this particular bandwagon. The exorbitant rate of 250 per cent duty and taxes bars many from importing modern bulletproof vehicles, for a new Toyota Land Cruiser costs between US$150,000 to US$170,000 in the international market. Vehicles converted in Pakistan are sub-standard, and usually not considered good enough by those with real threat to their lives but the status symbol seekers have no issue with these.

The more security conscious get conversion into bulletproof done from the UAE where Canadian, South African, American and German firms are providing the services and exporting vehicles to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other African countries. The agents of these companies lure customers from Pakistan. The experts give maximum rating to bulletproof vehicles converted by German companies.

When guards become killers

Hafiz Ayaz Ahmad – the son of renowned businessman and investor Seth Abid – and three of his security guards along with a passerby were shot dead in November 2006 by one of his own guards.  Six people, including two girls, were also injured as a result of the alleged murderer’s indiscriminate firing at the time of his escape. In a similar incident, a PML-N MNA Mansoor Ali Shah from Sargodha was assassinated his own guard.

When private becomes official

The private security guarding the politicians overnight assumes ‘official’ status once the latter are installed in office. For instance, reliable sources in Islamabad Police told Pique on condition of anonymity, former President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur had scores of youth from the Zardari clan escorting them first inducted in the Sindh Police, and later absorbed in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police and deployed on security duty around the presidency and at the Zardari House in sector F-8. Some were also directly recruited in ICT Police.

In October this year, 14 security personnel deployed with the Chief Minister Punjab in private capacity were recruited as constables on three-year contracts at a salary of Rs22, 000 per month. On the directions of the CM’s Secretariat, the IG Punjab Police Punjab also had recruitment criteria on age and educational qualification ‘relaxed’ to facilitate their induction.

Foreigners out

The interior ministry in 2010 amid uproar over the presence of Blackwater agents in the country directed all provincial governments and the Islamabad administration that no indigenous company “be authorized to have contract with foreign security agencies.” In the first place, foreign security companies were not allowed to operate in Pakistan, but this being lucrative business quite hard to refuse, they succeeded being on-board with the local security providers surreptitiously, in the name of collaboration.

Illegal and unhindered

Sources in the interior ministry divulged to Pique that as many as 70 private security providing companies operating throughout the country had no license. Some of these companies had obtained a license from the provincial home departments to begin with but these had since lapsed, but these security companies were still working without any legal permit.

“The laws were being violated and a number of non-licensed security agencies were operating in various parts of the country – including Karachi and Rawalpindi and other parts of the country,” concedes the secretary general of APSAA (All Pakistan Security Agencies Association), Lt Col (Retd) Ehteshamul Haq. APSAA, he claimed, had raised the issue with concerned authorities but to no avail.

In 2010, the ICT administration ordered 22 security companies to shut shop in the federal capital for violating laws governing them – in particular the Private Security Companies Ordinance 2001 and the Private Companies Rules 2001.

International Code to keep ‘Guns for Hire’ out

Apart from government imposed rules and regulations, in any professional trade code of conduct plays a pivotal role in sustaining healthy practices and maintaining standards. That was the reason why nearly 50 global private security firms came together in Geneva in November 2010 to sign an International Code of Conduct (ICoC) with the objective of strengthening respect for human rights and humanitarian law within their operations.

Why was the need felt for this new Code in international context? Indeed, because of the global proliferation of the private security industry, many companies had sprouted which in the guise of providing security were actually unlawful entities, and appropriately dubbed as ‘guns for hire’, and ‘the 21st century mercenaries’.

This phenomenon has also spawned because in the US and many other developed nations, the governments have increasingly outsourced policing functions as well as military tasks in war zones  to the private sector.

It deserves appreciation that Pakistan’s interior ministry and provincial governments have prevented the private security companies into transforming themselves as private armies.

Exploitation reigns

“Our members assure us that they do not exploit their staff. But it happens, I know,” admitted Lt Col. (Retd) Ihtisham, while the APSAA chairman Tauqirul Islam straight-batted, “the minimum wage law is implemented, otherwise the companies would face legal challenge from Labour Department.”

The reality on the ground is that the retired officer class of the armed forces exploits the former NCOs and jawans, for seldom are they paid the minimum wage or are adequately insured. To add insult to injury, not only some security agencies were notorious in paying lesser, but that too is dished out in installments.

There is a universal feeling that, as the security situation has worsened in recent times and the demand is higher, the private security companies have now become rapacious. But, to be fair, the principal, or the client  also often cheat these companies, by luring the guards to ditch them for direct hire, making the company lose a resource as well as revenue.

Time for action

The government of Pakistan, in collaboration with the provincial governments, must regulate the business of security. Here is (see box on facing page), according to the security experts how the government should go about vetting/screening and regularizing this critical sector in order to reduce risk and optimize benefit to the citizens.

Ishrat Zafran is a sad man with a gun

The Gujjar Khan native gets seven thousand rupees per month for his work as a guard at a private security company. That’s three thousand rupees a month lesser than the government-decreed minimum wage rate. Even this salary is not a timely affair. Pay day drags to the 10th or 11th of every month, stretching, at times, to the 20th.

The company has rented out two rooms in G-7 Markaz, which he shares with 25 of his fellow guards. It was, incidentally, on the roof of this building where he was trained. This isn’t his first job as a security guard. “I was employed at another company earlier,” he recalls, while manning his post during his watch at the Islamabad Hotel, Melody Market, “When I had to rush to my hometown as my wife had entered into labour prematurely, they didn’t even give me leave, what to speak of an advance on my salary.”

He quit that job, only to remain unemployed for several months. “Never again shall I quit,” he says, after a loud sneeze. Winter has set in the city. He needs to be careful not to catch a cold. But it is not the winters he dreads. It is Islamabad’s infamous spring season, which spells doom for those of the city’s residents that have a pollen allergy. For these couple of months, the mating call of the dreaded Paper Mulberry tree plays up hell with the aforementioned.  Respiratory problems, severe hacking cough, colds; the works. “They deduct our salaries on sick days. Spring could mean two months off.”

What the government must do

The federal and provincial governments must regulate the security firms working in the country. Following are recommendations of leading security experts that should be implemented by the government :

•For starters, the licenses of all existing security agencies should be revoked and new time-barred letter of comfort should be issued, allowing security agencies to function for nine months, within which they puttheir house in order.

•National universities, in collaboration with the interior ministry and provincial home departments, should prepare syllabus to systematically educate and equip a new crop of properly trained human resource forbody-guards, crowd controllers and security handlers. Body-guards course should be of six-month durations. Other security staff should undergo courses of two to three months

•All reputed security agencies must open their own training academies for training of their employees and potential employees.

•The retired army or police officials, who want to join security services either privately or through licensed security companies, must clear abovementioned courses to be able to operate/get employed. Afghanreturned men should be given a preference while enrolling in security agency academies.

•The training area of security companies should be spread over at least 2.5 acres, with physical, martial arts training facilities as well as firing range to hone firing skills of ordinary and sophisticated weapons.Instructors must be well-trained retired army or police personnel.

•The existing private security companies must apply for new licenses after they fulfil the above mentioned conditions. These licences should be issued by respective provincial home departments.

•Only qualified people must be employed by the security agencies. The certificate holders will be eligible to perform duties of security guards privately with any person or join any licensed private security agency.

•A non-certified security guard working either privately or with any security agency must be apprehended with due penalties.

•Minimum wage for security guards must be not less than Rs.10,000 per month.

The writer is the managing editor