SHC directs federal law officer to submit government policy on VIPs’ security

The Sindh High Court on Wednesday directed a law officer of the federal government to submit comments with regard to threats to Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as well as a policy for the provision of security to VIP persons.

The direction came on a petition of Bilawal seeking adequate security from the police and Rangers, including permissions for travelling in a vehicle with tinted glasses and having his own personal guards with licensed arms at his home or elsewhere.

The PPP chairman submitted in the petition that after the assassination of his mother former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, he and his family were under continuous threat from undemocratic forces in the country and there was always apprehension about his security as well as the security of his family members due to threats to their lives and properties from extremists and terrorist organisations.

He mentioned that reports of security agencies had established that he was still under threat. The petitioner’s counsels, Akhtar Hussain and Masud Ghani, submitted that Bilawal wanted the permission for travelling anywhere in the country in bulletproof vehicles with tinted glasses accompanied by security guards possessing licensed weapons.

Referring to security agencies’ reports regarding serious threats to the petitioner’s life as well as the party headquarters, Bilawal House, the counsels submitted that the agencies had recommended making 24-hour special security arrangements for the petitioner whenever he visited any part of the country.

The SHC enquired of the petitioner’s counsels how many police personnel were deployed outside the residence of Bilawal, to which they argued that the petitioner required security arrangements during his visits to other provinces.

A division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, directed the federal law officer to submit comments with regard to threats to the petitioner and also submit the federal government’s policy with regard to providing security to VIP persons. It is pertinent to mention here that the SHC had also approved petitions of Bilawal’s father PPP co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari and his aunt Faryal Talpur for security arrangements for them, which included keeping bulletproof vehicles and having private security guards.