PESHAWAR: While educational institutions on the campus are buying weapons and enhancing security in the aftermath terrorist attack on Army Public School, the Agricultural University Peshawar (AUP), adjacent to the area notorious for crimes, has not yet installed even a CCTV camera owing to its poor financial condition.

`We are in the process of purchasing CCTV cameras in our limited financial resources,` said Dr Shahid Sattar, the registrar of AUP.

He also explained in detail how AUP was faced with lack of funds for taking security measures.

The AUP, spread on about 400 acres, is close to an area termed `notorious` by the law enforcement agencies.

There are girls` hostel and residential area, which many professors termed insecure even before Dec 16 terrorist attack on APS.

Ajmal Khan, the vice-chancellor of Islamia College University, was also abducted from the same locality in broad daylight by militants.

The AUP had been reminding the government of its required help in constructing a protection wall for the last couple of years but of no use, an official said.

Dr Sattar said that AUP had requested the government to provide Rs200 million to it for constructing the protection wall on the four kilometres strip as the entire boundary wall around the campus was also built by the provincial government. The official seemed hopeful to getthefundsbutsofarthere was no indication that AUP was getting any funds for the wall.

`We are exposed and if something happens the government would be responsible as we have limited funds and asked government for help,` said a senior teacher of the university, requesting anonymity.

The campus police have also been reminding the AUP to take security measures like installing security CCTV cameras, raising boundary walls, fixing barbed wires and enhancing the number of armed guards after the terrorist attack on APS.

There was a four kilometres stretch between AUP with the areas like Regi,Palosal and Village 512 that made the campus vulnerable, said SP Mohammad Hussain. He said that police were utilising their resources to protect the campus but universities also needed to take measures to secure their institutions.

`We have warned the Agricultural University Peshawar time and again to take security measures but they are faced with shortage of funds,` the SP said.

He said that AUP had been lamenting that it had not even enough funds to pay their employees so how could they build a wall on the vulnerable stretch.

The police official said that there was need for enhancing even the number of police force deployed on the campus. Since 1987, there have been some 292 policemen on the campus.

Now there are about 60,000 students, seven times more than the number in 1987, there is need for more policemen.

`I have submitted a request to the government to arrange for additional 200 policemen on the campus, said Mr Hussain.

While the resourceful universities are making security arrangements to protect the vulnerable points and constituent colleges and schools on the campus, lack of enough security measures at financially starved AUP, situated at a vulnerable location, may be a risk for the entire campus.

While campus police have the responsibility to protect the entire campus having around a dozen educational institutions with only about 292 cops, each institutions is required to enhance its own security too as per government`s directives.

The University of Peshawar, one of the major educational institutions, has a University Security Force of about 165 personnel which works in shifts. The University of Engineering and Technology and Khyber Medical College have recently bought weapons to enhance the capacity of theirguardsbutAgricultural University is stuck with shortage of funds and unable to build a wall on the four kilometres strip. Some of its employees and guards of a private security company are manning the entry points and students have been issued identity cards but professors of the university say it is not enough.