The sacrifices and role of Army, police and other law enforcement agencies in war on terror are appreciable. The killing of terrorists in Bacha Khan University by the Army and other security persons in record time of three hours approximately needs to be appreciated, keeping in view the response of Indian security persons in Pathankot incident.
The valiant role played by university security staff and one driver should also be acknowledged. After the extraordinary achievements in operation Zarb-e-Azab, the coward and tiny terrorists have opted soft targets killing innocent students because security of schools is not well planned, supervised and guarded.
The armed forces alone cannot fight this menace of terrorism. We are at war. Most of the semi and non-governmental organisations are not justly fulfilling the security parameters in wake of present unstable situation of the country. They are lacking pace which is not acceptable at the cost of precious blood of young sons of the soil who are the future of Pakistan.
APS Peshawar and Bacha Khan University incidents should be the last ones and no more. Just raising boundary walls, erecting barbed and concertina wire and employing and increasing the number of low category staff with low salary cannot guarantee the strong defence shield against well-equipped and trained terrorists. Our armed forces and law enforcement agencies are among the best in the world. Their retired persons can be reemployed and integrated to enhance the security of soft targets all over the country. Following suggestions, if adopted, can be useful to ensure foolproof security of educational institutions.
The schools should employ retired servicemen at reasonable pay packages and equip them with latest weapons. The security staff should be led by retired officers of the armed forces as they have better ability to handle and delay terrorists attack in the most difficult situation till arrival of regular force to reinforce them. There should be arrangements for security round the clock. The students and teaching staff should be given lectures on how to avoid terrorists in case of attack. There should be national cadet corps (NCC) training of all nationals and students, as in the past such training were conducted in colleges for students. There should be a proper control room in the educational institutions to control and monitor the situation in case of terrorist attack. There should be hidden, safe and secure passages in the schools to be used in case of attack. The security cameras and other equipment should be installed in the educational institutions. Moreover, teh schools should devise security plan in collaboration with other governmental security organisations. It is need of the hour to think seriously. Let’s sit together and join hand to tackle these coward terrorists.
* The writer Sardar Ejaz Ahmed Sandhu is a government servant.