Citizen-police liaison committees to be formed

PESHAWAR:

The provincial Public Safety and Police Complaint Commission (PPS&PCC) is working on establishing citizen-police liaison committees (CPLC), a legal requirement under Article 168 of the Police Order 2002, in each district of the province. This requirement had so far been ignored by successive governments in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Talking to The Express Tribune, PPS&PCC Director Arif Khan Khattak said there was no legally specified number of members for the liaison committee, but authorities decided to restrict it to 10 for each district, including Torghar.

Representative

“Our nominations are almost final, but when they were put to members of the PPS&PCC, a woman MPA insisted women be made part of the committees,” he said. “It was consequently decided to include three women in each committee and we have nominated members.”

The director hoped these committees would bridge the communication gap between police and the general public.

Contrary to popular belief, no policeman would be member of the committees, said Khattak.

“They will not only work as trust-building bodies, but also bridge the communication gap between the police and general public,” he said, adding PPS&PCC was assigned an important role under the Police Order 2002. “However, it has been ignored until recently.”

Incomplete commissions

Khattak said a summary had been moved to the CM Secretariat to nominate MPAs for some incomplete district public safety and police complaint commissions (DPC&PCC).

“In the absence of a district commission, the provincial commission will address complaints,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2014.