Banks in federal capital asked to shut operations on Friday at 2pm

ISLAMABAD: Commercial banks located in different parts of the federal capital, especially in Blue Area, Aabpara, and others, were instructed on Friday afternoon to shut down their operations at 2pm, keeping in view severe security threats.

Top sources confirmed to The News on Friday that law enforcement agencies found that the commercial banks were not fully complying with standard operating procedures (SOPs) on account of the provision of foolproof security. These lapses were found by the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) especially Islamabad Police in the aftermath of different unfortunate occurrences related to robbery in the federal capital during this week.

“Yes, instructions were received by different branches of the commercial banks for closing down their operations on Friday afternoon for security,” a representative of a commercial bank told The News when contacted for comments. He said that these instructions were issued to certain bank branches, keeping in view the deteriorated security situation outside or related to commercial banks in recent days.

One official said that the Islamabad Policy instructed the banks to ensure full compliance with SOPs related to the security of banks. However, extraordinary measures have been taken by the government and law enforcement agencies to beef up the security mechanism.

A pattern has been found that a “psychopath” was allegedly involved in all such criminal activities related to robbery into different banks in Islamabad and adjacent areas of ICT and a special squad of police was deputed to apprehend the culprit.