Another FIA official, seeking anonymity, shared that terror still haunted the FIA building as no proper security arrangements had been put in place. There should be more vigilance of the FIA building after the launch of the National Action Plan, he added. He also shared that very recently a foreign funding agency had provided CCTV cameras to the FIA but security staff still lacking other key security equipments including the walkthrough gates.
There is a walkthrough gate but sometimes it becomes dysfunctional, he claimed. He also drew attention towards the fact that other than a couple of men, there was no female police personnel at the entrance of the main gate which could cause unbearable human loss. “We should deploy some female security personnel (at least one) at the main gate of the FIA building to keep a female suicide bomber away”, he maintained.
An FIA official, who had lost his younger brother in 2008 blast, wishing anonymity, told The News on Wednesday that Rehman Malik had made a promise to provide them with plots but even after the passage of seven years nothing had been done in this regard. He said the government should not make such promises which could not be fulfilled.
When contacted on Wednesday, Director FIA Punjab (Lahore Zone) Dr Usman Anwar told The News that after the formal launch of the NAP, things, particularly vis-à-vis security arrangements, had been improved. “We are more satisfied as we have installed CCTV cameras and walkthrough gates with the financial assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNoDC)”. We have also improved our vigilance, both in uniform and civvies around the building, he maintained.
To a question, Dr Usman said the federal government had prepared a PC-I of the FIA building but things had not been moved ahead from that particular point. He also shared that by taking revolutionary step, the incumbent federal government had introduced Shuhada Package for the FIA employees which was being practised only in the police in the past.