Reconciliation committees will be formed in 10 police stations of Civil Lines Division after Eidul Azha holidays as a pilot project, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Subject to the results, the experiment will later be replicated at all police stations in the remaining five divisions of the city.
SSP Investigation Abdul Razzaq Chema said names of most of the people selected for RCs in the Civil Lines Division received given security clearance from the Special Branch. All told, he said, 800 people had been selected from all over the city for RCs. The SSP said most of those selected for RCs will be retired public servants including college teachers and doctors.
He said traders enjoying impeccable reputation will also be included in the committees.
SSP Cheema said the functions of RCs would mostly be similar to those of Citizen Police Liason Committees (CPLCs) introduced earlier.
However, while CPLCs had the mandate to hold senior policemen (SPs and above) accountable, RCs will only be consulted in cases mostly involving interaction with the station house officers. The SSP said RCs would help resolve cases involving monetary and family disputes.
CPLCs chairman Tahir Mehmood Chaudary criticised the decision to set up RCs and said that these would overlap with the CPLC’s mandate. He said if the police started taking the CPLCs more seriously there would be no need for any other citizens’ committee.
Chaudhry said that coordination between divisional SPs and members of the CPLC was lacking and that police seldom responded to the citizen complaints referred to them by the CPLC. He said 52 complaints referred to the police in 2008, 28 in 2009 and 72 in 2010 still remained pending.
On occasions, he said, the CPLCs was pressured to withdraw from inquiries in complaints against the police.
The CPLC chairman further said that many junior police officials were still unaware of the CPLCs’ existence and its mandate.
He also accused the police of not registering FIRs on receiving kickbacks from suspects or their supporters. He said at times police informed the suspects about the complaint before registering the FIRs so that they could seek pre-arrest bails.
He said on average about 2,200 people sought CPLC’s assistance with their cases in a year.
Civil Lines Division SP (Investigation) Dr Liaqat Ali said RCs would be set up in Civil Lines Division immediately after the Eidul Azha break.
He said the names of people referred for security clearance for RCs in the City Division were also expected to be returned very soon.
He said a room would be set aside for the committee at the police stations where a head constable would be stationed to assist the RC members with paperwork.
SP (Model Town) Awais Malik told The Tribune that police were also considering giving representation to some non-governmental organisations on the RCs.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.
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