Protecting human rights: Training of master trainers concludes in Karachi police academy

Other modules to be introduced include basic investigation, forensic science and advanced investigation, etc

KARACHI:

A training of 30 master trainers from police training schools and colleges across the province concluded at the Saeedabad Police Training College, Karachi, on Friday.

Speaking at the certificate distribution ceremony, DIG Southand Sindh Curriculum Development Programme (SCDP) coordinator Abdul Khalique Shaikh explained that the 12-day training of trainers was a follow-up to a module titled ‘Protecting Human Rights’, which was launched at the Central Police Office in December 2014.

In addition to human rights, other modules to be introduced include basic investigation, forensic science, advanced investigation, counter-terrorism, community policing, criminal law, criminal process, basic criminology and crime prevention.

“There needs to be a change of philosophy in policing, shifting from force-oriented to service-oriented,” said Training DIG Dr Jameel.

Meanwhile, former IG Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui, who co-authored the human rights module, appreciated the Sindh Police’s efforts to integrate various human rights topics, such as child rights, juvenile justice, women’s rights and minority rights, within one book.

“This training is a long-due initiative working towards making the police force community-oriented and compliant with human rights standards,” said Investigation SSP Faizullah Korejo. Sharing his experience of dealing with harmful traditional practices such as honour killing and early child marriage in Balochistan and rural Sindh, he said, “In the same way that the nature of crime varies in rural and urban settings, the police force too has to change its methodology of working.”

He added that in urban areas, the needs of pressure groups such as traders’ bodies, the media and the business communities had to be dealt with through modern rather than traditional policing.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2015.