K-P prohibits issuance of new arms licences

CM expresses concern over rising incidents of property and family disputes

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on Tuesday prohibited issuance of new arms licences and banned protests in Assembly Chowk in view of the prevailing law and order situation in the province.

The provincial government also issued instructions to the police to take concrete steps for effectively preventing property and family disputes leading to homicides in different districts of K-P.

The decision was taken during a high-level meeting, held under the chairmanship of K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, which reviewed the overall law and order situation in the province as well as the merged districts.

K-P Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz, K-P Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jahan Ansari, divisional commissioners, regional police officers and senior police officials of the home department attended the meeting.

During the course of the meeting, the IGP briefed the participants on the steps taken by the security forces to improve law and order situation in the province and their future course of action.

The chief minister expressed concerns over rising incidents of property and family disputes in the province in recent days, directed the police to take concrete steps and chalk out a comprehensive strategy to resolve the issue.

Khan also directed the top police command to hold regular meetings fortnightly to review the law and order situation in the province, while the regional police officers were also issued instructions to review the situation in their respective regions.

The security forces were also directed to present progress on overall performance of police.

The chief minister reiterated his commitment to rid the province of illegal weapons and drugs, said the police would have to take concrete steps to eradicate the menace and warned that no negligence would be tolerated in this regard.

Stressing the need to ensure effective enforcement of law and order at all levels, the chief minister directed the security force to keep a close watch on miscreants, launch full-fledged campaign against the use of tinted windows on vehicles and display of weapons.

Khan called for strict action against aerial firing, sale and purchase of drugs and other criminal offenses disturbing law and order situation of the province.

Assuring the police force of complete cooperation, Khan said the provincial government would provide all possible resources to further strengthen the police to improve law and order situation. However, he reminded the security officers to meet the public expectations in this regard.

“The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police are doing a good job but they need further improvement,” he said, adding the provincial police was an ideal force.

He stressed that the on duty police personnel as well as the elected public representatives should be banned from performing duties in civilian clothes.

“All permanent police check posts across the province should be repaired and cameras should be installed in police stations to ensure improvement in the attitude of the police,” he said.

The chief minister also directed that officials should work on a strategy to further strengthen the counter-terrorism and special branches of the police.

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The meeting discussed various aspects of prospective strategy to improve the law and order situation in the province. The attendees were informed that details of family and property disputes would be collected in police stations and Dispute Resolution Councils (DRCs) would be made more active for peaceful resolution of disputes.

It was further informed that anti-narcotics teams were being formed at district levels which would work directly under the leadership of the District Police Officer (DPOs) and will take action against drug dealers in their respective districts for effective prevention of narcotics.

The meeting was informed that people involved in recent killings have been identified and most of them have been arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2021.