‘Police concerns will be addressed before reforms’

Law minister says many misconceptions have been cleared with police top brass

LAHORE: The top brass of the Punjab Police was left red-faced at a high-level meeting after their concerns that created a lot of internal furore for curtailment of their power at the hands of Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS), turned out to be a figment of their own imagination, The Express Tribune learnt on Friday.

A wave of panic and agitation recently spread through the ranks and file of Punjab Police bureaucracy after it was assumed that civil bureaucracy (PAS) was being given an overseeing by ordaining them the judicial power of 22 A and 22 B (CrPC) and the power to inspect police stations in the new draft of police reforms.

As an outcome of these concerns, many police high-ranking officers reportedly even threatened to resign in a meeting presided over by Punjab Inspector General of Police Captain (retd) Arif Nawaz Khan. Given the mounting concerns from Punjab Police, Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja called a meeting of police and civil bureaucracy where the top brass of the police department was asked to highlight from within the draft of the proposed police reforms the concerns they were troubled with.

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It was revealed that police high-ups were asked to identify any clause even vaguely suggesting that PAS was been given an overseeing on police. He said it was beyond belief why such a hue and cry was created by police in the media over something that did not even exist.

The minister said their concerns mainly regarding Independent External Inspectorates and Police Complaint Authority were heard at length. He said the inspection reports of the overall police working and complaints could not be heard by someone from the police force even in any complaint cell given his biases towards his force, same goes for the inspections. He said the kind of cases that took people by storm in Punjab regarding either of high-handedness or irresponsible behaviour necessitated these proposed changes. Police, for quite some time, have been shifting the burdens of all their wrongs on lack of funds which was nothing but a scapegoat to hide the incompetence.

The minister was of the view that external oversight and complaint mechanisms will also help police evolve and learn from their mistakes.

He said these reforms, however, will not sail through until the concerns of Punjab Police were addressed.

The law minister said much of the serious concerns of police regarding the reforms were ill-founded.

He said they have gone through much of the draft point-by-point and have deliberated on every point with police to address their concerns. He said police top brass was on board in these reforms.

He said that they would have another meeting with police and civil bureaucracy on Saturday (today) to settle the remaining issues.

A government official told The Express Tribune that it was unfortunate that misinformation was being spread only to protect vested interests and practice of abuse of power to avoid any form of accountability.

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There already existed institutions such as FIA and Anti-Corruption  Establishment with powers to arrest, search and seizure to enforce respective laws they are mandated to enforce.

“The call for protest and resignation is unprofessional and based on misperceptions. Moreover, it is also a direct attempt to prevent the efforts of the elected Government to execute its mandate of bringing meaningful reforms and perform its functions under the constitution,” he said.

Additional IG Police Inam Ghani said the IGP raised the concerns of police force regarding not been taken on board during the preparation of police reforms draft with Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Thursday. He said chief minister constituted a committee the very day headed by the law minister. He said they were very grateful to the Punjab government for their prompt response on their concerns.

He cleared that Punjab Police does not shy away from accountability.

Regarding confusion of DCs’ overseeing, he said since the police were not shared the draft of the reforms, so much of the concerns might be due to some misunderstanding on the part of the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2019.