ISLAMABAD - The security of Prime Minister’s House is at risk because sniffer dogs stationed at main gates of the premises are not fit enough to detect explosives and need to be replaced immediately but no replacement is made so far despite a requisition was made a year back.
Sources in the government informed that sniffer dogs, used for detecting explosives or any other unusual things at the main gates of the Prime Minister House, had grown old and become lethargic and worn out due to beyond-capacity duty and needed immediate replacement but despite the request forwarded by the security officials dealing with the security of Prime Minister’s House, no replacement had been made so far.
The request for their replacement of the sniffer dogs was made after they failed to trace out anthrax containing material in Prime Minister’s mail and the material was found when the security staff opened the parcel for PM dispatched from Jamshoro University Sindh.
Security experts say that usually the specialised dogs could effectively work for one hour but due to the shortage of dogs the dogs were made to work at Prime Minister’s House for several hours a day further affecting their efficiency.
Sources informed that in all the security staff at Prime Minister’s House have four sniffer dogs to vehicle checking. A few months back one of the dogs suffered from paralysis and its burden of work also shifted on the remaining three dogs, making them fatigued and exhausted to work properly.
These sources claim that now these specially trained dogs become ordinary ones and were not capable of detecting explosives.
The sources said that a year back a request was forwarded to Army Dog Centre to provide some more dogs to cater for the security needs of the Prime Minister’s House but no new dogs were provided and the security staff at PM’s House were left with no choice but to carry on the exercise with the available ones.
The sources further said that it was due to overburden of work that one of these specialised dogs suffered paralysis attack while bleeding from their noses was a routine practice in summer when for hours these dogs were made to check the vehicles.