Living on a Tight Budget: Stories Of Islamabad’s Security Guards

Bilal Hussain

Islamabad: “We don’t purchase new dresses for years to meet the financial challenges and rely on donated or second-hand clothes and other things of daily life we need,” says Arshad Khan*, a security guard of a private school in Islamabad.

“Is there anyone who can make a viable budget for a family with four school-going children on just Rs20,000? he questioned.”

“We have to serve for 12 hours a day but draw a lower salary than the government-fixed salary for a labourer, stated Khan*. The name of the security guard has been changed to hide his identity to avoid potential implications for his job.

If we request our management (the security company) to increase our salaries as we have to make our budgets under the currently record high inflation, we only have to listen to do this job; otherwise, we have many other options and lines behind you to perform this duty at the same salary. He explained the challenge they face in raising their voice for unfair treatment by the management.

How do you manage when you or any member of your family suffers from illness? The poor security guard responded that “such illness further added to my worries”. “If your employer is kind-hearted, you have a sigh of relief; otherwise, you have to bear everything on your own.”

If your employer is kind-hearted, you have a sigh of relief; otherwise, you have to bear everything on your own.

If we take off more than one day in a month, our salaries are being deducted accordingly. At the end of the month, Khan* narrated another plight in their professional lives. A security guard for a private company faces hardships and is treated unfairly more than anyone can imagine in this country.

They don’t have any proper arrangements for their basic job rights from the management. We only have the option to push our chair under the tree nearby if it exists, the security guard added.

He stated that the only thing we can’t bear but have to compromise on is the rude attitude and behaviour of our principals while interacting or communicating something.

We are always threatened with getting fired if we react to them so we have to compromise for the sake of our children and family.

We are grateful to former Prime Minister Imran Khan for providing free public food centres, shelter homes and health cards.

I talked to another security guard, named Sajjad Hussain, working for an Islamabad-based private security company, about similar miseries. Sajid stated that we are grateful to former Prime Minister Imran Khan for providing free public food centres, shelter homes and health cards.

Hussain was annoyed by the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) decision to close these basic facilities for the deserving.

The former Prime Minister’s health card facility happened to be a great source of relief to the deserving and poorest in this desperate country, Sajjad remarked.

“We used to save all the money received from our security company but now hardly half of that amount we can save, as we have to pay for the rental and mess expenses now compared with previously”, Sajjad explained his hardship.

We are always threatened with getting fired if we react to them so we have to compromise for the sake of our family.

In response to a question about his children’s education and wellbeing, guard Hussain said that he closed the academy (tuition centre) option for his children last month to ensure the survival of his family.

He expresses with deep sorrow that this country is not made for the poor, either in terms of justice or in basic human rights provisions. Our politicians have nothing to do with the poorest in the country and they only come into power to serve their own purposes, just like the PDM did during his tenure.

When asked about their training and whether companies provide weapons and other security and safety-related equipment, he said only well-established companies provide such facilities to their employees; smaller security companies have nothing to do with this kind of facility.

We, being the poorer part of society, have never been facilitated by government hospitals and other institutions like courts.

Already irked by the lower wedge than the fixed labourer salary by the government, Sajjad said that despite the fact that the month is nearing an end, he didn’t receive his salary. When asked why, he responded that it is a common practice in this company.

It also sometimes happens that they seize our salaries for many months and then suddenly they make decisions to fire us without any prior notice, said another security guard sitting near Sajjad. And then we further struggle to release our seized salaries, in which we do not succeed in most of the cases.

We have had a good experience with this bank manager and the team as we are supported here and encouraged as well. Comparatively, we have a better environment provided at the place of duty than many others in the country, said a group of security guards of a private bank in Sector E-11.

The contributor is a development sector expert based in Islamabad.

Additional input and edited by Shazia Mehboob