VCs recommend national awards for KP policemen

ISLAMABAD: The conference of vice chancellors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  universities has recommended national awards for six policemen of KP police who fearlessly fought during Wednesday’s attack on Bacha Khan University Charsadda and not only killed terrorists but also saved many lives.

The January 22 conference of VCs of all public sector universities of KP held at Charsadda University also recommended national awards for Dr Hamid Hassan, Assistant Professor Chemistry, a student, a driver and two security guards for confronting and attacking terrorists and becoming a shield to save the lives of others. The conference also applauded the role and quick response of armed forces.

The brave police officers recommended for national awards include; 1- Khyzer Hayat, head constable, 2- Irfan Khan, SHO Serdheri, 3- SHO Prang, 4- Kabeer Akbar, SPO, 5- Hameed, SI, 6- Yasir, constable. Others recommended for national awards include; 1- Dr Hamid Hassan, Assistant Professor, 2- Muhammad Kamran, student, 3- Rahmanullah, driver, 4- Muhammad Iqbal, security guard, 5- Shahzad Ali, security guard.

The recommendations made by the VCs conference read; i- Vice chancellors salute the bravery and presence of the mind of security and other staff, students of the university and local police for their effective and quick response to the terrorist attack.

Further, the vice chancellors applaud the quick and on time response of the armed forces on the occasion. ii- Vice chancellors should meet Imran Khan, the governor, the chief minister and corps commander to highlight security issue in universities. iii- Universities should budget a hefty amount for security. iv- Special grants should be requested from the provincial government and HEC for beefing up security on campuses. v- The provincial government of KP and the federal government must divert some funds from the development head to the security head for a few years. vi- Universities must share security related best-practice and information among themselves through regular meetings of the vice-chancellors and security personnel. vii- A monument should be erected in Bacha Khan University with the resources from other universities. viii- Recommendation of awards: (as discussed above).

Keeping aside the debate of advance intelligence information, according to KP police, four different security advisories on dates May 2, 2014, September 17, 2014 (through letter No.9747/PA), January 13, 2015 (through letter No.208/S) and October 5, 2015 were issued to Bacha Khan University recommending and then directing to take measures to improve security set up but all of them were almost ignored. Copies of these advisories, duly received by university officers, available with The News show that Charsadda Police have intimated the university management about deficiencies in overall security setup and ‘directed’ to immediately install security equipment and take other recommended measures. These include; i- CCTV cameras, ii- metal detectors iii- walk through gates, iv- fire extinguishers, v- flash lights, vi- concertina wire, vii- height of boundary wall is less than 14 feet, viii- weapons. After recommending above mentioned measures, the January 13, 2015 letter reads, “You are once again directed to install/take the above measures immediately and submit report compliance within three days, otherwise necessary legal action will be taken against you under KP Sensitive Vulnerable Establishment and Places Security Ordinance 2014. The October 2015 DSP Police letter to Charsadda University added more measures of ‘lady security guard for female checking’ and ‘watch tower over the hostel building’. Sources say that because of deficiency of funds, different security measures could not be taken in time.