Pakistan: Bulletproof jackets, helmets fail to protect police personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 6 (ANI): Substandard bulletproof jackets, helmets and armoured personnel carriers (APC) all decades-old have not been able to protect the lives of police personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, The News International reported.

On Tuesday, provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan ordered an inquiry to check the bulletproof jackets and helmets. He further said that jammers were being installed on all armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to protect the vehicles from bomb attacks, as per the news report.

A source in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police on Tuesday said that the bulletproof jackets and helmets given to the police personnel in the province were either decades old or substandard that cannot protect anyone from shots fired by automatic weapons, The News International reported. As per the news report, some of the jackets are able to resist only pistol shots.

On Monday, two police personnel deployed outside a Mosque in Kohat were targeted by armed men during the prayers, The News International reported. Both police personnel were killed on the spot after being hit by bullets despite wearing bulletproof jackets and helmets, according to the news report. The pictures of the helmet and jacket showed the bullet shots pierced into it to kill both the police personnel.

The incident has been reported a couple of days after Deputy Superintendent of Police Iqbal Mohmand and three other police personnel were killed in an improvised explosive device attack on their APC in Lakki Marwat.

Speaking to The News International, a policeman said, “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.”

The policeman called for an investigation into why the bulletproof jacket and helmet could not protect the lives of police personnel who were killed in Kohat, as per the news report. Another police cop called it a “matter of concern” for every police personnel as they were not aware that they are forced to wear heavy jackets and helmets that were unable to save their lives in case of an attack. The police personnel said that all the jackets and helmets given to the cops need to be tested in a laboratory.

The provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan has ordered an inquiry by a deputy inspector general in the Kohat incident to check the quality of the jackets and helmets provided to the cops, according to The News International report. He ordered them to submit a report within seven days. He assured the police personnel of providing them with the required facilities for protection.