Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti was assassinated on Wednesday during an attack on his vehicle in Islamabad. – Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti would not have been alone at the time of his assassination on Wednesday if police had followed the standard operating procedure (SOP) described in the interior ministry’s ‘Standard instructions for the protection of VIPs’. The manual is maintained and issued by the interior ministry, which is responsible for the security protocol for VIPs, including parliamentarians, governors, chief ministers, judges, ministers and advisers.

According to sources, it makes it clear that the guards accompanying a person are not answerable to him, but to police officers.

According to the book, the chief of Islamabad police and heads of the police security division (DIG, security, and SSP, security) are responsible for providing security to the VIPs by deploying policemen and checking the security arrangements and deployment on a weekly basis.

The officers can decide to withdraw guards or provide more, or even tighten security through other means, after the reviews.

However, these SOPs are not followed and this has contributed to the assassinations of Mr Bhatti, as well as Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.

According to the instructions, the individual should plan his movements in coordination with the officer in charge of the security. One of the guards is designated as in charge of the security and is responsible for coordinating with the person being protected and the security division officers.

The official in charge should immediately inform his superior officer if there is any change in the security arrangements.

Information about a VIP who is moving around without security, regardless of for how short a while, should immediately be communicated to senior officers at the security division so that arrangements can be made in view of this deviation from the SOP. However, in the slain minister’s case the official in charge of the security did not inform his seniors about his habit of moving without his guards. Neither was this practice noted down.

The senior police officers concerned also did not review the arrangements to make alternative provisions.

Senior police officers dealing with the security of high-profile government officials said that the latter were in the habit of violating the SOP.

The reasons range from wanting to keep certain engagements private to just a short escape for the security escort.

They added that generally the guards tended to leave the VIPs alone whenever they demanded so. However, this was a violation of rules, they conceded.

Mr Bhatti was shot dead as he left his mother’s house in Islamabad.

Despite the fact that he had been receiving threats and had requested more security, including a bullet-proof car, according to his relatives, he was at that time alone with his personal driver.

His security guards, including policemen and Frontier Constabulary personnel, were waiting for him at his nearby office-cum-residence.

This deviation has allowed the authorities to imply that they don’t bear the responsibility for the incident.

“If somebody himself does not want police security then I cannot be held responsible for the mishap,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik is reported to have said on Thursday.