Award ceremony: IG Punjab advocates ‘aggressive policing’

Habibur Rehman gives Bahawalpur police awards for busting gang.

LAHORE:


Inspector General (IG) of Punjab Police Muhammad Habibur Rehman on Thursday advocated “aggressive policing to eliminate criminals” but denied that police were involved in extrajudicial killings.


“No fake encounters have taken place in the province…when police chase thieves, they offer resistance and open fire on police. Police have to retaliate in self-defence,” said Rehman, addressing a ceremony in Lahore to honour the performance of the Bahawalpur police.

He said two police encounters in Jhang and Nankana district this week were genuine and three policemen had lost their lives in them.

Rehman said, “There is a dire need to remove flaws in the criminal justice system to control crime and provide justice.”

He said all institutions must improve witness protection to make investigations and prosecution more secure.

“Trade and a flourishing economy are linked to security.

If there is less crime, investment increases,” he said. He said protecting the business community was one of the priorities of the police. He pointed to a successful raid by Bahawalpur police as proof. Bahawalpur police had arrested seven alleged members of an inter-provincial gang of robbers.




These had snatched a truck loaded with carpets worth Rs40 million. The carpets had been dispatched by a Lahore-based carpet-manufacturing factory to Karachi for export to Italy and Germany. A police team set up by the Bahawalpur DPO arrested the suspects and recovered the carpets. It had been snatched near Bahawalpur. The suspects are being interrogated.

Asked about the murder of a Swedish national in Lahore, Rehman said the incident was not linked with terrorism and media would be informed as soon as the police completed investigations.

The IGP awarded commendatory certificates and cash prizes to policemen. Bahawalpur DPO Sohail Tajak received Rs200,000, Saddar Circle DSP Syed Ali Raza received Rs150,000, Inspector Ghulam Mohyuddin received Rs120,000, Sub Inspector Muhammad Rafique received Rs80,000 while constables Mazaharul Hassan, Mashudullah, Waris Ali, Noor Muhammad and Muhammad Arif were given Rs30,000 each.

Additional-IG (Training) Mubarak Athar, Lahore DIG (Operations) Lahore Rai Muhammad Tahir, MPA Dr Saeed Elahi and industrialist Qamar Zaman were in attendance.

SPs transferred:

IGP Mohammad Habibur Rehman issued transfer orders for two police officers.

Muhammad Shafique Gujjar, Superintendent of Police (Legal) at Police Training School, Farooqabad has  been transferred and posted as Assistant Inspector General of Police (Legal) at the Central Police Office in Lahore. Syed Nadim Bukhari, AddI Superintendent of Police for Gujrat, has been transferred and posted as AddI Superintendent of Police for Sialkot. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2012.
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