Daily Times

In most developing insecure nations, security is often confused with protocol. While security is for the physical protection of an individual, protocol is for facilitation of people in authority. Security cover is provided by visible and invisible devices while protocol carries pomp and show. After the Caretaker Prime Minister, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk took his oath he decided to visit the grave of his father with full protocol.

While he travelled by air, his motorcade drove all the way to Swat to receive him and then to drive him to the ancestral graveyard. It was a grand show for the people of his home town at the cost of millions to the national exchequer. At least the PM should pick up the tab from his own pocket, as the state of Pakistan did not benefit from his purely personal visit.

The unwanted rogue, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt after ruling for over three decades remained mostly indoors for his personal security. Once a citizen approached the President with a paper petition and he was shot by the security staff. Pervez Musharraf the fourth khaki dictator of Pakistan enjoyed both security and protocol yet there were at least two serious attempts on his life. The one on the bridge at Chaklala in 2005 was the closest. Technology came to his rescue, his bullet proof vehicle and electronic jammer saved his life when everything else had failed.

Some protocols are absurd. During his second term in power Mian Sahib moved with a lot of protocol his motorcade included an ambulance and a fire engine. While playing cricket in the historic Bagh-e-Jinnah ground he was injured, the staff of the ambulance rushed to the pitch for his bandage to everyone’s surprise there were no scissors to cut the cotton gauze. I am sure the fire engine had no water either. All such protocols have to be done away with as they are useless, expensive and agonizing.

From a security standpoint, the garrison city of Rawalpindi has a very poor track record. It was here where the first PM was assassinated in 1951 and then Benazir Bhutto lost her life in 2007. After she was shot there were no emergency Standard Operating Procedure’s (SOP) of protocol. Instead of the well-equipped Combined Military Hospital (CMH) she was taken to the ill-equipped Government Employees Hospital which lacked adequate facilitates for head injuries. Help was sought over the telephone from Lahore General Hospital which is a specialized facility 270 km away. There were attempts on the life of Nawaz Sharif, Yousaf RazaGillani and Shaukat Aziz in this deadly city. Islamabad and its twin city Rawalpindi definitely need effective security frameworks.

In March 1981 there was an assassination attempt on President Reagan as he came out from a hotel to reach his limousine. Several bullets were fired from a close distance by a dejected lover. As the President was surrounded by his staff and personal security his injury was not that serious. Following the SOP he was immediately rushed to the nearest Trauma Centre in his own limousine without waiting for the ambulance. Soon he regained consciousness and the issue of command was resolved, as the Vice President was overseas, and the Chief of Staff of the White house took charge for a brief period.

Pervez Musharraf the fourth khaki dictator of Pakistan enjoyed both security and protocol yet there were at least two serious attempts on his life.

At the peak of the anti-Ayub movement he was advised to seek public contact which was not there before. While addressing a gathering in Peshawar in 1969, there was an attempt on his life as people were fed up with his controlled ‘thana democracy’ his security apparatus failed. He was so devastated by the event that he soon decided to step down, rest is history.

Bhutto’s have been dare-devils, which has also resulted in their young deaths. When Benazir came back from her exile her convoy came under attack at Karsaz in Karachi, she not only survived but remained undeterred. Her life was seriously threatened but she continued with her public contact. After her last speech at Liaquat Bagh she safely boarded her bullet proof vehicle but in violation of the security SOP she opened the sunroof of her vehicle to greet her supporters which proved to be fatal.

In the first 100 days plan of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf(PTI) it was agreed that only locally assembled cars of upto 1300CC would be used by all dignitaries including the ministers and PM. Such a protocol makes sense as it is being practiced in India. On intervention of the security experts instead of locally assembled cars expensive vehicles have been imported for the dignitaries. Any vehicle can be made bullet-proof; it does not have to be imported. With the huge local auto-assembly potential, state institutions should be debarred from using imported luxury cars. Austerity should start from the top, no more imported vehicles.

Leadership calls for bold decisions when President Bill Clinton was trying to negotiate a settlement in the Middle East he wanted to land on neutral land in Jerusalem, while the Israelis wanted his plane to touch the ground in Tel Aviv their capital. His security staff advised him to keep away from Jerusalem as his personal safety would be at risk. On hearing this he ordered his staff to prepare new SOPs for the safety of the President otherwise they would be sent home. He landed safely in neutral territory and presided over the peace summit, he personally overruled the bluff of the security apparatus. The unnecessary, unwanted protocol can;neither deliver safety nor security, and needs to be done away with. I am sure the Kaptaan will settle for austerity instead of pomp and show to make his and our lives easier. Only realistic SOPs should be prepared and followed for smooth functioning of the leader and the led.

The writer is Ex-Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation. E-mail: fmaliks@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, August 19^th 2018.