Police secretariat established in South Punjab

New setup serves 44% of province’s population in 11 districts

MULTAN:

The government has established a separate police secretariat under an additional inspector general of police with greater freedom and authority to solve the problems of South Punjab’s people. South Punjab Additional IGP Captain (retd.) Zafar Iqbal said, "Having powers at this secretariat would improve police investigation and efficiency and promote the police’s image.

The South Punjab police office has been entrusted with supervisory and monitoring powers to transfer and post police officers up to BPS-18, as well as punish or reward personnel from constable to inspector level," he added. "To ensure fair investigations, we have introduced a special board for deputing honest investigating officers in agreement with the parties to the cases. We have addressed 2,700 complaints out of a total of 3,000 during last year-and-a-half," Iqbal said.

He added that despite operational difficulties, the police had successfully countered the ‘Laadi’ criminal gang in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, bringing security to the area. A new police training school has been set up in Dera Ghazi Khan in addition to one already working in Multan, to train police personnel with modern methods. To overcome corruption, the government has promised direct funding to police stations and an internal accountability office has also been set up. Other projects include finalising the establishment of a forensic lab in Multan to ensure more thorough investigations in the future