Whither Punjab Security Board?
March 09, 2013
Although some detractors of PML-N leadership put the blame for convening of Punjab Security Board (PSB) just for two, three times, during the last four years, on Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shehbaz Sharif’s rare availability, actual culprits are those public functionaries who never bothered to fix dates for the full PSB meetings on a regular basis, ever since its inception despite the repeated claims of CM Punjab that internal security was one of the top priorities of his government.
‘The News’ has learnt from reliable sources that Punjab Security Board was constituted in the year 2009 under the direction of CM Punjab and following those orders the Board was established with CM as its Chairman. Other members of the Board were the Punjab Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Additional IG, CTD (Counter Terrorism Department) but ever since then there have been very few formal meetings of the Board with all its members- and the Chairman- present under one roof on more than two to three occasions.
Other sources, however, say that there has been no meeting of the full Board since its constitution (or that it didn’t exist in practice) although CM Punjab had claimed in a meeting with media seniors during a breakfast at his ancestral Model Town residence that in order to cope with the internal security situation, the Government of Punjab has constituted the Punjab Security Board. The CM also gave a complete briefing on the same issue, at his Secretariat, a few days afterwards to a selected group of media seniors.
When the Chief Secretary Punjab, Nasir Khosa, was contacted to give his views as an important member of the Board, he deputed Col. (
retired) Niazi, Additional Home Secretary (AHS), to reply to ‘The News’ queries.
Col. Niazi did not confirm or negate the news about so few meetings of the Board but he disclosed that Punjab government was already handling the counter-terrorism area efficiently as it had hired the services of an expert having a background of armed forces named Brigadier Anees.
The AHS told ‘The News’ that the provincial counter-terrorism setup was actively engaged in its assigned tasks and the number of counter-terrorism police stations was being increased from the present four to ten very soon.
The police stations will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to combat militants and supported by mobile telecommunication system that has so far been the exclusive domain of civil and military secret agencies. The personnel were being imparted most sophisticated training, said the Additional Home Secretary.
According to the AHS, the CTD was equipped with complete particulars of 2000 Afghan Trained Boys (ATBs) and 1400 IVth Schedulers. When asked that the term ATBs was an old one and not used anymore, he said that they were basically trained by the jihadis of the past and it was wrong to assume that they were criminals. However, the Punjab government was maintaining full surveillance of ATBs with the apprehension that these people could be exploited by the forces inimical to the country’s solidarity.
Divulging more details about the additional six Counter-terrorism police stations, Col. Niazi said that these stations will also be given the task of handling sectarian violence cases in addition to the instances of terrorism. The Punjab government was equally vigilant about hate material that already stood proscribed.
As for the federal counter-terrorism institution, Nacta, sources have revealed that it has still to take off in practical terms.
These sources (not the AHS Punjab) further suggested that the media should highlight one important recommendation that would help a lot in arresting the menace of terrorism to a great extent. The sources have recommended introducing the system of presenting CNICs (Computerized National Identity Cards) at toll plazas for entry or exit but through a computerized system so that no delay or discomfort is caused to the public at the entry or exit points.
Elaborating this recommendation, the sources said that transportation was one main area that needed yet greater monitoring and surveillance in the counter-terrorism field.
Another disclosure made by the sources was that, leaving aside some minors, most of the adult suicide bombers didn’t have CNICs at all.
‘The News’ has learnt from reliable sources that Punjab Security Board was constituted in the year 2009 under the direction of CM Punjab and following those orders the Board was established with CM as its Chairman. Other members of the Board were the Punjab Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Additional IG, CTD (Counter Terrorism Department) but ever since then there have been very few formal meetings of the Board with all its members- and the Chairman- present under one roof on more than two to three occasions.
Other sources, however, say that there has been no meeting of the full Board since its constitution (or that it didn’t exist in practice) although CM Punjab had claimed in a meeting with media seniors during a breakfast at his ancestral Model Town residence that in order to cope with the internal security situation, the Government of Punjab has constituted the Punjab Security Board. The CM also gave a complete briefing on the same issue, at his Secretariat, a few days afterwards to a selected group of media seniors.
When the Chief Secretary Punjab, Nasir Khosa, was contacted to give his views as an important member of the Board, he deputed Col. (
retired) Niazi, Additional Home Secretary (AHS), to reply to ‘The News’ queries.
Col. Niazi did not confirm or negate the news about so few meetings of the Board but he disclosed that Punjab government was already handling the counter-terrorism area efficiently as it had hired the services of an expert having a background of armed forces named Brigadier Anees.
The AHS told ‘The News’ that the provincial counter-terrorism setup was actively engaged in its assigned tasks and the number of counter-terrorism police stations was being increased from the present four to ten very soon.
The police stations will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to combat militants and supported by mobile telecommunication system that has so far been the exclusive domain of civil and military secret agencies. The personnel were being imparted most sophisticated training, said the Additional Home Secretary.
According to the AHS, the CTD was equipped with complete particulars of 2000 Afghan Trained Boys (ATBs) and 1400 IVth Schedulers. When asked that the term ATBs was an old one and not used anymore, he said that they were basically trained by the jihadis of the past and it was wrong to assume that they were criminals. However, the Punjab government was maintaining full surveillance of ATBs with the apprehension that these people could be exploited by the forces inimical to the country’s solidarity.
Divulging more details about the additional six Counter-terrorism police stations, Col. Niazi said that these stations will also be given the task of handling sectarian violence cases in addition to the instances of terrorism. The Punjab government was equally vigilant about hate material that already stood proscribed.
As for the federal counter-terrorism institution, Nacta, sources have revealed that it has still to take off in practical terms.
These sources (not the AHS Punjab) further suggested that the media should highlight one important recommendation that would help a lot in arresting the menace of terrorism to a great extent. The sources have recommended introducing the system of presenting CNICs (Computerized National Identity Cards) at toll plazas for entry or exit but through a computerized system so that no delay or discomfort is caused to the public at the entry or exit points.
Elaborating this recommendation, the sources said that transportation was one main area that needed yet greater monitoring and surveillance in the counter-terrorism field.
Another disclosure made by the sources was that, leaving aside some minors, most of the adult suicide bombers didn’t have CNICs at all.
