In one of its kind development, Rawalpindi Police has asked banks in the city to shut down their operations and close their branches as there’s not sufficient security to keep the banks safe from robbers.
This advisory came after a bank in Chour Chowk, Peshawar Road, was robbed and some Rs. 20 million (Rs. 2 crore) were taken away by the robbers.
Following the incident, CPO Rawalpindi directed the banks to shut down due to inadequate security measures.
At least one branch, that was robbed, has been shut down, it is learned.
Government of Pakistan, if we look at the track record, has a history of shutting down services instead of fighting back the situation. If you look at cellular services, they are being shut down on Eids and other occasions for past several years due to inadequate security.
Similarly there are countless roads that are blocked in the country or are not open for public due to insecurity.
Instead if combating the issues, Pakistani authorities tend to adopt short-cuts and comparatively easy ways to find a fix.
Kerosene oil, for example, was mixed with petrol during 1970s, and hence its price was increased to discourage mixing. Prices of kerosene oil, which are actually lot lower than usual petrol, are being matched with patrol for last 40 years, instead of hunting down the culprits who mix both the oils.
This is how we fix the problems.
We are hoping that sanity will play a role here and banks won’t be closed down due to insecurity, instead government will take measures to ensure the security of banks.
It is unclear still that how banks are going to respond to the situation, but it is likely that police may not take any further responsibility of bank robberies; as it has apparently offloaded its responsibility by advising the banks to shut down their services. Hence, no further blames on Police for now.
