Sources said that the idea of a special force for providing safety to the polio team was thought several years earlier but did not get the go-ahead due to unexplained reason.
The shooting incident in Orangi Town on Wednesday, which claimed the lives of seven policemen that were providing protection to the polio vaccination teams in the area, have made government rethink their idea of forming the special agency that will require cops to undergo commando training with an assignment of protecting the polio vaccination volunteers.
An official stated, “The idea was originally floated two years ago and had impressed the chief minister but then it was dropped without citing any reason.”
He went on to say, “The very reason might be related to provision of the funding required to raise such force.”
It is also being said that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah asked the Home Ministry to quickly work on the agenda. An official from the Home Ministry said that the plan has to be worked out at a quick pace as the present-day police force is more efficient in tackling routine crimes and has little training.
An official said that, “The problem then was that the police force was short of personnel to raise a dedicated squad. Such a force could only be viable if we recruit it afresh like a new scheme.”
He went on to say that polio and terrorists were being treated on equal basis by the government and the crippling disease and the saboteurs have a nexus against the country’s future.
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