PESHAWAR: The decades-old substandard bulletproof jackets, helmets and the armoured personnel carriers (APCs) have failed to protect the lives of policemen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan on Tuesday ordered an inquiry to check the substandard of the bulletproof jackets and helmets and said jammers were being installed on all the APCs to protect the vehicles from bomb attacks.
A source in the KP Police on Tuesday said the bulletproof jackets and helmets provided to the cops in the province were either decades old or these were substandard that cannot protect anyone from shots fired from automatic weapons. Some of the jackets can resist only pistol shots. On Monday night, two policemen deployed outside a mosque in Kohat were targeted by the armed men during the Taraveeh prayers. Both the cops were martyred on the spot. They died after being hit by bullets despite wearing bulletproof jackets and helmets. The pictures of the helmet and jacket shared by policemen showed the bullets pierced into it to kill both the policemen.
This was a couple of days after Deputy Superintendent of Police Iqbal Mohmand and three other policemen were martyred in an improvised explosive device attack on their APC in Lakki Marwat.
They were trapped by the militants who attacked the Saddar Police Station and later targeted their APC when they were on their way for reinforcements.
“The best one can do to protect his life is to wear a bulletproof jacket and helmet and use APC for travel in a troubled area. All these measures failed to protect the lives of policemen in two consecutive attacks in Lakki Marwat and Kohat because of the poor standard of protective gear and vehicle,” a policeman told The News.
He added it should be investigated as to what was the reason that bulletproof jacket and helmet could not protect the lives of two fallen heroes in Kohat.
“This is a matter of concern for every policeman as they did not know they are forced to wear the heavy jackets and helmets which are unable to protect their lives in case of attack. All the jackets and helmets provided to the cops need to be tested in a laboratory to check if these can save lives or only bother the cops with their weight,” said another cop. He added that some of the jackets expired after a certain period while the substandard one cannot be trusted even from day one. The bosses of the force have taken action against a number of cops in recent years for not wearing bulletproof jackets and helmets without testing the standard of the protective gear. “As per the international standards, a bulletproof jacket expires in five to ten years. The more these are used the more early it expires and need to be replaced with a newer one,” said an official. He added most of the bulletproof jackets in KP were at least over a decade old. The policemen complained that most of the jackets provided to the constables were too heavy and many cops had removed the steel plates from them and placed a piece of wood or any light material only to dodge their bosses during inspection, even risking their lives.
“When you place two AK-47 magazines in it, it weighs 8 to 10 kilograms, making it almost impossible for anyone to carry it for eight hours especially during the hot summer days,” an official said. Senior officers and even a few juniors who can afford it have arranged light jackets from abroad on their own against higher prices.
On the other hand, the APCs too can protect the cops only from bullets and are unable to save their lives in case of a bomb attack. This is why the lives of four cops, including a DSP, were lost in a bomb attack in Lakki Marwat.
The provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan said they were installing jammers on APCs to thwart bomb attacks on these vehicles. The police chief has ordered an inquiry by a deputy inspector general in the Kohat incident to check the standard and quality of the jackets and helmets provided to the cops and directed them to submit a report within seven days. He added police in KP were fighting terrorists and criminals bravely and they would be provided all the required facilities for protection.
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