Police to hire 5,000 ex-army men for security duties in Lahore.

LAHORE -- The Punjab Police chief has granted approval to raise 'security division of 5,000 personnel' mostly consisting of retired/ex-servicemen in the provincial capital to discharge multiple general/security duties, sparing the police station staff to discharge the core functions, mainly focusing on street crime.

The new security force would consist of retired/ex-servicemen, mostly from the Pakistan Army.

According to official claims, the deployment of the newly hired force would ease the burden on the police station staff/personnel, enabling them to discharge their core functions they were vested under Police Rules 1934.

An official claims the new force, comprising the 'already trained human resource,' will also help reduce the burden on the national exchequer as the hiring of young police personnel is costing the Punjab government heavily in the current financial crunch.

He says Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar has granted approval to raise the new force in a meeting with Lahore police higher-ups at the Central Police Office a couple of days back.

Under the plan, the official adds, the deployment will be made from the pool of newly hired 5,000 police force for the specialised duties like VIP movements/personalities, cricket matches, national census, polio programmes, Raiwind congregations, annual religious festivals, judicial duties etc.

He says the Lahore police high command is also working separately on a scheme to withdraw the police personnel from the 'unauthorised duties/deployments' to increase the strength of the personnel at the police stations.

Plan to raise new hired force for extra duties like VVIP movement, cricket matches etc

While sharing multiple proposals in this respect, the Lahore police officers informed the IGP that they were struggling to get multiple assignments done from the staff of the 84 police stations of the city.

They told him that the public and the police station staff had been paying a heavy cost in the form of rising street crime and faulty investigations while deploying the policemen against 'unauthorised duties' for the last many decades.

The official says the deployment of police force from police stations to other miscellaneous...