Peshawar Police ask schools, colleges to take adequate security steps

PESHAWAR: The capital city police authorities on Wednesday asked the owners and principals of schools and colleges to take adequate security measures and call police through one click SOS in case of any emergency.

A meeting with the heads of various educational institutions was held at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines with CCPO Mubarak Zeb in the chair. The heads of the schools informed the senior cop about the measures they had already taken for security of schools and buses. The CCPO warned the principals of strict action in case of any negligence in security of schools.

He said contingents of Rapid Response Force, Special Police Unit, Elite and Anti-Terrorism Squad have been deployed for quick response in case of any untoward incident.

Senior police officials including CCPO and SSP Operations visited all the universities and a number of colleges and public and private universities to inspect the security arrangements after recent threats hurled by the militants to educational institutions. The militants had warned that the attack on the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda on January 20 was just the beginning.

The police officers during inspection of educational institutions had expressed concerns over the insufficient measures adopted by the majority of the schools, for buildings as well as buses and vans. The fresh warning panicked parents as well as teachers.

After the attack on the Army Public School, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police had started providing basic training to male and female teachers to learn how to handle weapon and help authorities in case of any attack.