Islamabad, November 21: An incessant spate of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks nationwide has virtually crumbled the already dismal economy, but has ironically created thousands of security and guarding jobs.
“I am lucky to get job in these circumstances, when thousands have been rendered jobless,” Gul Nawaz, 24, told.
He is one of the thousands of new security guards hired by some 70,000 private schools across Pakistan fearing attacks in retaliation for the ongoing military offensive against local Taliban militants.
Nawaz, who has been looking for a job for several months, used to work as a driver for a local broker at Islamabad Stock Exchange.
He lost his job because of the global financial crunch that hit the financial institutions in the Asian Muslim country.
But Nawaz was recently been hired as a security guard by the management of an elite private school in Islamabad through a security agency.
“I know this is not a good time to be a security guard but I desperately needed a job,” he said.
“I had lost my patience while seeing the No Vacancy board wherever I applied,” added the young man who is responsible for bringing food to the table of two sisters and a brother.
Intelligence agencies fear that educational institutions, especially those run by armed forces or affiliated with international school chains, could be the possible targets of terrorists.
The warning was issued after an attack on International Islamic University Islamabad killed 10 students and injured over two dozens last month.
The government blamed the attack on Taliban which denied the charge saying they only targets security agencies personnel and offices.
There are around 220,000 schools in Pakistan, of which 150,000 are state-owned and 70,000 are privately-owned.
Most of the private schools are being run by retired army officers, bureaucrats and big businessmen families.
Security agencies are posting advertisements in local and national newspapers seeking more security guards to cope with the growing requirements.
“We are hiring as many as possible new guards to cater to the present requirements,” Ikram Sehgal, the managing director of Path Finders Security, the country’s leading private security agency, told.
The agency has been providing services to various foreign missions, international and national financial, business institutions and government and private corporations.
The deteriorating law and order situation has increased burden on specialized security agencies.
“There is almost 40 to 50 percent increase in our business as compared to last year,” notes Sehgal.
Private schools were forced to arrange their own security after the government unofficially refused to provide security to them over the lack of resources as security agencies are already busy battling the growing specter of terrorism.
“We requested the government to provide us security, but it simply refused,” Khalid Shah, the chairman of All Pakistan Private Schools Association, told.
“Therefore, we have to arrange our security at help your self basis,” he added.
“Those schools which already had two guards added one or two more to their security staff, whereas those which had no security guard hired at least one.”
A security guard receives a monthly salary of between RS 6000-12000 (80-150 dollars), depending on the quality and credibility of their security agencies.
The government has announced giving private schools licenses for the procurement of weapons for their newly-hired security guards.
Many schools have also installed security cameras in and around the vicinity.
But state-owned schools, except a few ones, have been left totally on the mercy of terrorists as they lack financial resources to hire private security.
–Agencies–