Police reforms : New research highlights structural flaws

Experts believe strong police will lead to strong country

A research study titled “Quest for Democratic Policing: Politics of Police Reforms in Pakistan” was conducted by Rozan on behalf of the Pakistan Forum for Democratic Police.

The research has been carried out with the purpose of understanding structural flaws and to suggest a way forward for police reforms.

The ceremony on Monday opened with a welcome note by Rozan Managing Director Babar Bashir. He introduced Rozan to participants followed by a research study review presented by former minister Dr Sania Nishtar, founder of Heartfile.

The author of the research, DIG Dr Ehsan Sadiq, gave a brief presentation on the history of police reforms and compared the Police Act 1861 with the Police Order 2002.

Nishtar opened the discussion by congratulating Sadiq and Rozan for carrying out an analytical research on such a topic since Pakistan needs it the most. She said that Sadiq has written on the history of police chronologically with great simplicity. She further focused on institutional ability.

“The failure in bringing reforms is actually an absence of political will and institutional capacity. The problem is weak governance,” she said.

SASSI Director General Dr Maria Sultan said we need a strong and secure police for a strong and secure country. She talked about the structure of police stations and thought that there is a need to bring reforms at the primary level.

Structural reforms are required for credibility of police which is very important. She focused on representation of women police that is only 1 per cent although the population of Pakistan comprises 50 per cent women.

“Extraordinary situation requires extraordinary measures, the first thing should be to create a balance between the police and citizens,” she concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2015.