Half of CCTV cameras at the University of Karachi do not work and the new person in charge of security doesn’t even have access to the control room.

This is the state of affairs on campus where two days ago a female suicide bomber got close enough to a van carrying Chinese teachers. Four people were killed: van driver Khalid Nawaz, Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng and Chen Sai. The suicide bomber, Shari Hayat Baloch alias Barmash’s flat in Gulistan-e-Jauhar has been sealed.

The monitoring room was padlocked. The university’s vice-chancellor and registrar were unable to identify the location of the surveillance room.

Campus security adviser Dr Muhammad Zubair was appointed a month ago but has yet to gain access to the control room. The passwords and control remain with the previous campus security adviser, Dr Moiz, who left over a month ago. The former adviser retains access to campus security through his cell phone.

Registrar Prof. Dr Maqsood Ali Ansari told Aaj News that 155 cameras have been installed out of which about 100 are faulty. “Some institutes have set up their own cameras,” he said.

The university continues to make a monthly payment of Rs100,000 for security cameras. Only about 30 cameras are working.