Bracing up: Former IGP to improve policing, law and order

Home department, police stations to be restructured according to working group’s suggestions.

A working group, headed by former inspector general police (IGP) Fayaz Ahmad Khan Toru, has been formed to bring positive changes in the functioning of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department and its units.

According to a press release issued on Wednesday, the working group includes 20 members, including Home Secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, religious scholars, businessmen, members of the provincial assembly and former senior officials.



The term of references for the group is to give suggestions to the provincial government for the formation of law and order and policing strategies. An overall improvement in the administration of the criminal justice system is also an intended aim for the group.

The group will help reorganise police stations and provide a solution for their command and control, administrative and welfare issues. It is also tasked with improving the ‘thana culture’ by making police efficient, eradicating corruption and eventually restoring the public image of the police.

Other things on the agenda for Toru’s team include reorganisation and improvement of the intelligence unit of police and the proposal of a mechanism to link them with police stations.

Similarly, the group will also work on overhauling the present surveillance system and equipping it with modern technology along with establishing an operative mechanism for addressing complaints at provincial and district levels.

The working group will also work on devising a strategy for the police to work with local communities in order to identify concerns, reduce crime and terror incidents, by meaningful coordination between law enforcement personnel and local communities.

Modernising the system by use of computers and other gadgets has also been made a part of the group’s agenda.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th,2013.