Private security

Over the last decade Pakistan has seen the mushrooming of private security firms and presence of weapons on the streets. Similarly the country’s visa policy for foreigners and the ad hoc mechanisms of putting people on the Exit Control List have been much criticised. On Thursday Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar promised the National Assembly that this would no longer be the case. Nisar has promised a new, coherent policy on the registration of new private security agencies. He claimed that no new licences had been issued to security companies in the last year, which he contrasted with the hundreds of licences given by the previous government to those companies which were unable to even provide basic training to their employees. He said the decision was taken on feedback from companies who were hiring these private security firms and were clearly unsatisfied with their performance. It would be pertinent to note that many of the guards these companies provide are unable to operate guns, or are overenthusiastic about operating them. Nisar said that the new policy would mandate the companies to train their employees annually. However, there was no mention of giving them decent salaries or any benefits.
A policy to register private security firms has been long in the making. It is a blatant failure of governance that there is none at the moment. The consequence is the bizarre situation in which many security firms are operating in the country with absolutely no one watching their activities or monitoring their performance. People are compelled to rely on shoddy private security firms for the mere feeling that there is someone out there protecting them. Most of these people know that there is no check on the security agencies, but nonetheless assume that something is better than nothing. If the interior minister is serious about the promise, then there needs to be a watchdog created to oversee private security firms. But there is a more systematic problem that was not reflected in the minister’s speech. The rise of private security firms is a reflection of the failure of the police force and state security agencies. Any functional state able to provide security of life and liberty to its people should not have to rely on private security firms. When an unregistered security guard offers a greater feeling of security than the police force, surely Pakistan needs more than just a new policy to register private security firms?