K-P eyes police overhaul via amendment in law

It appears, the year 2021 is set to herald a new dawn for systematic improvements within the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Police, which has had a significant local, national and international identity. Some of these major changes, which include the setting up of a provincial inspectorate for police monitoring as well as an organisation-wide shift of charge, are directed towards building a positive narrative for the department.

Per official sources privy to the development, the K-P government has been laying the groundwork to produce a new edict, in amendment of the Police Act 2017. Following which, all officers ranging from the ranks of Inspector General (IG), Deputy Inspector General (DIG), and Assistant Inspector General (AIG) to Station House Officer (SHO), will be made answerable to the new inspectorate. In this regard, three government ministers also reportedly held their first meeting with a committee comprising of the Police Department, the Home Department and the Advocate General.

By the end of the meeting a proposition to reduce the powers of the K-P police was expressed, which the bureaucracy too seemed to be in agreement with. The new provincial inspectorate, which is being set up in lieu of activating district level offices like Public Safety Commission and Police Complaints Authority via Police Act, is reported to be composed of retired government officers and headed by the Director General. This change is expected to not only limit the powers of the police but also create an organisational dynamic where they will be required to appear before the provincial inspectorate instead being directly accountable to the Inspector General.

Speaking in the regard Police Reforms Committee Member Shaukat Yousafzai explained that the purpose of amending the Police Act is to introduce a system that is there to hear pleas of anyone who might have suffered abuse within police custody. “The objective here is to improve the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, to bring effective mechanisms and transparency. We are amending the Public Safety Commission. The Public Safety Commission is considering a proposal to replace the Chief Justice of the High Court with members of the Assembly, the Chief Minister or the Governor instead of the Chairman Accountability Commission,” shared Yousafzai.

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As per official sources, the Police Act 2017 includes the establishment of a Public Safety Commission, membered by assembly and opposition members with the capacity to question the police on any matter. Yet however, the Public Safety Commission has yet not been formed despite the passing of four years, while the Provincial Complaints Authority too has met a similar fate. On the other hand, the establishment of an inspectorate for police accountability at the provincial level with an IGP, although aspirational in theory also seems a tad overreaching in reality.

The news of overhaul of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act seems to have shaken the police department and most of the officers from the province have moved to other provinces, while the lack of powers is likely to provoke a reaction from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police officers. A member of the government team associated with police reforms, speaking on conditions of anonymity, told the Express Tribune that the image of K-P police has not been the most discreet. “But the Amra Tehkala incident, where a student recently committed suicide at the West Peshawar police station, has brought the department under a lot of shame.

After something like this, a face-saving overhaul was imperative for the department’s public image,” he commented. According to a senior K-P police officer, the Police Act 2017 was Imran Khan’s dream, which was put into practice by the former chief minister Pervez Khattak, who allowed significant power to the police. “This propelled K-P police to a special place at national and international level. Imran Khan mentions the K-P police in every meeting and realistically speaking, now when the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government is in power in both the centre and the province, reducing the powers of the police is beyond comprehension. The change in the Police Act will only weaken the system in the police department,” he told The Express Tribune.