EDITORIAL: Finally, the interior division has decided to do something about the fact that “the current regulatory regime governing private security agencies is not comprehensive”, as its representatives put it before the federal cabinet in a recent meeting, and proposed to design and implement a framework “on the pattern of the UK (United Kingdom) and other developed countries”.
This is a much-delayed step in the right direction. Because everybody has known for the longest time that lack of proper checks and balances, among other things, has left the private security landscape littered with inefficient, incompetent and plenty of shady firms. But that has always been the end of the matter and an easily identifiable problem has been left untreated so far.
This situation has caused problems all the way to the highest level. After all, a lot of private firms have been engaged with important and sensitive projects of national significance, especially CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor). And there have been instances when personnel provided by these companies did not have the expertise to handle testing circumstances, posing serious threats to the security of projects and workers, especially foreign nationals. This point has also been raised, repeatedly, at meetings of the China-Pakistan Joint Working Group on CPEC safety, but to no avail. Till now.
It is the “weak regulatory framework” that the interior division has just decided to sort out that must be blamed for many of the problems that have not only rattled the national security environment, but also caused diplomatic problems and threatened to derail CPEC, which everybody knows is Pakistan’s only shot at fast-track up-gradation of its infrastructure.
So, as the division fine-tunes its Private Security Services Bill, which proposes the establishment of a Private Security Services Regulatory Authority, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to also quantify all the harm done by delaying this initiative for no reason except that those in power never bothered to take it. That way we’ll also be able to keep count of just how many of our problems are entirely of our own leaders’ making.
It only takes common sense to realise that bringing private security up to scratch at this time would not only improve overall security, it would also reduce the burden on law enforcement agencies by freeing their personnel and resources for the building fight against a resurgent TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan). There is already a good blueprint to follow, as mentioned in the cabinet briefing, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get the ball rolling on necessary reforms. One can only hope that this step doesn’t get lost in the noise and shifting priorities during and after the election that is only a few months away. It wouldn’t do much good to anybody if those at the helm finally pull their heads out of the sand, enjoy a few flattering headlines and editorials, and then forget about the whole thing all over again.
Ideally, the private sector should take the lead in providing civilian-level security — from households to big, national projects — and help keep the cities calm and the economy running. Yet while we’re still quite far from seeing private security trading publicly, there is a lot of room to increase efficiency and make the sector more competitive. The interior division has taken its sweet time in coming to this realisation, but now that it has it must move with speed and purpose; not the least because the government machinery’s own sense of efficiency often leaves a little something to be desired.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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