Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police has taken technologically advanced steps to mitigate the chances of terrorist attacks on public places, educational institutions and in business hubs of the province. KP police on Monday formally inaugurated “One-Click SOS system” in more than 22,978 educational institutions and 2,000 other parts of the province thought to be sensitive from a security point of view.

After the Army Public School (APS) and Bacha Khan University attacks left more than 160 students dead and hundreds injured, questions about the security of educational institutions in the province were raised. Peshawar Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) operation Abbas Majeed Marwat said that police eventually took a concrete step by installing sensitive installations in the province to thwart any type of misadventure, and to reduce the chances of future attacks on educational institutes and business hubs.

The introduction of One-Click SOS system is an android-based application. With the help of this system, a simple click on the Alert Button will automatically send messages to a nearby police station, police control room, field officers and the Central Police Office (CPO). The alert message will provide exact information about the sender’s location, helping law enforcement agencies reach any place as soon as possible.

Inspector General KP Nasir Khan Durrani has been briefed at his office through a demonstration by the technology experts about the installation of a ‘quack’ response security system for the education institutions across the province. The One-Click SOS alert system has been installed in 2,265 institutions of district Mansehra, and 1,970 places of Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan). 1,613 educational institutions in Swat have the one click alert system.

According to a CPO official in Peshawar, the system has been launched in several districts of KP to provide full-fledged security to provincial educational institutions and the business community. Apart from educational institutions, the alert system has been installed in 484 banks, 1,191 jewellery shops, 68 money changers and nine NADRA offices in different districts of KP.

However, Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajiran Rabta Committee Peshawar cantonment board Chairman said it was a cosmetic measure. The main issue facing the business community is extortion and target killing; the mere installation of a security camera on a shop can not provide security to a trader”.

He said that the project has been started for the second time by an official of KP police and after spending millions on the project, the official would have no mechanism to carry out the follow up for these cameras and their record. When asked, the Government Schools Teacher Association (GSTA) KP president Sardar Amanullah Khan said the use of technology to provide security was a better option, lauding the move as an admirable one, saying it would help control the security situation.