Human rights minister says govt committed to depoliticising police

Dr Shireen Mazari says merit based system will be introduced

RAWALPINDI: The government is committed to depoliticise the police department by introducing a merit based system, said Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen Mazari at a seminar on Police Reforms and Gender Based Violence organised by Pakistan Forum for Democratic Policing.

Addressing the participants on the occasion Dr. Mazari highlighted the importance of police reforms and said that it is one of the topmost priorities on the government’s agenda.

Only a professional police force can play a vital role in improving law and order situation of the country, she said. It was mentioned that different provinces are following different legislations regarding the working of police department, responsible for creating discrepancies. Comprehensive police reforms are a prerequisite to deal with such discrepancies. Trust between police and public needs to be strengthened If police are not reformed, it would be impossible to bring prisoner reforms, criminal justice reforms and to improve law and order situation. She added.

The federal minister underscored the need of improving working conditions of Police department and said and our police lacked resources. “We need to give them dignity and respect”, she said. On the other hand it is also very important to change the colonial mindset of our police force. We need to shift their focus from controlling the population to community policing, she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2019.