Lazar II for Pakistani police

The police forces of Pakistan plan to procure minimum 20 Serbian armored vehicles called Lazar II (8x8).

The Army of Pakistan has been testing Lazar II for as many as seven months now, but it also tested Turkish, American and Russian armored vehicles.

Lazar II proved best in all tests, and the Pakistani were particularly impressed with the fact that Serbia was the only country that gave them a live demonstration by firing and bombing the vehicle while they were inside.

The decision to purchase Lazar II vehicles is a result of the unsuccessful assault on that armored personnel carrier (APC) in aforementioned demonstration.

- Serbia also offered to deliver the APCs in two phases by the end of December 2013 with the lowest cost worth around Rs1 billion (EUR 7 million) for 20 APCs - The Express Tribune was told by former Sindh police’s DIG Finance Dost Ali Baloch who was a part of the team of experts who visited Serbia two years ago.

However, Lazar II vehicles have not been delivered to Pakistan yet. Namely, police officials said that the Transparency International-Pakistan’s (TIP) reservations regarding the purchase of Lazar II from Serbia caused a delay in buying the vehicles. In September 2013, TIP had sent a reminder to Sindh IGP Shahid Nadeem Baloch and asked him to examine the rules before buying the vehicles.