Privilege motions: Police come under fire in K-P Assembly

Lawmakers seek to rein in the dept

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s police department came under fire on Friday in the provincial assembly when lawmakers, both from the opposition and treasury benches, moved privilege motions against it.

Javed Nasim of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) called for bringing the police under control. He criticised the recently-promulgated K-P Police Ordinance 2016, which endows police chief and subordinate officers broader powers, making them more independent than before. “This kind of change is unacceptable,” Naseem thundered.

Mehmood Ahmad Khan of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) said: “The Police Ordinance, 2016 is flawed … we will oppose it. SHO and DSPs should run the assembly if they are not answerable to us.”

The discussion started on a privilege motion tabled by Malik Noor Saleem Khan of the JUI-F, who accused SHO Ghaznikhel Wahid Noor of abetting an extortionist who collects money from contractors in his area.

“The SHO not only insulted me on phone but also sent text messages, saying that he doesn’t care whether I complain to the IGP or the President,” Malik said, asking the Deputy Speaker Dr Mehar Taj Roghani to refer the matter to the house’s privileges committee. He stated that if anything happened to him, the SHO, police department and his rivals should be held responsible.

Advisor to the chief minister for transport Shah Muhammad Khan agreed with Malik and lashed out against the police order, saying: “We are to blame if they pay no heed to us. The perception that the police are answerable to the Public Safety Commission is wrong. I was part of the commission and the police are not accountable to anyone.”

Javed Naseem cited an incident, maintaining that his son and driver along with official vehicle had been detained for five hours on Eid. “I tried to call the SHO, the DSP and the SP, but they did not respond. The police accused that the vehicle’s documents were fake. The SP city raids every Hujra I visit in my constituency in Peshawar.”

The minister of public health engineering Shah Farman suggested that the matter should be referred to the privileges committee. He went on to say that the assembly bestowed powers to government officials and it could also take them back.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2016.