District police officers to supervise rights cells

HRCP criticises move to place police officials in charge of district-level human rights cells.

LAHORE: The district police officers have been put in charge of the district-level human rights cells established by the regional directorate of the Ministry of Human Rights.

Professor Mehdi Hasan, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairman, has criticised the decision to put the DPOs in charge of the district-level cells. He said that this was ironic considering that data compiled by the HRCP showed that 70 per cent of human rights’ violations were done by the police themselves.

“Such cells should be run by representatives of civil society and people with a track record of rights’ activism,” he added. He said that the whole activity would be futile if only police officials and government employees get appointed.

A senior official at the regional directorate said that the DPOs concerned were nominating members to these cells. He said that the directorate would monitor the activity of these cells and ensure that no rights’ violation went unchecked.

Besides the DPO concerned, each cell was to include a civil society activist and a representative of the regional directorate.

The official said that the cells were formed on the recommendation of the National Assembly Standing Committee for Human Rights. The cells, he said, would monitor rights’ violation at the district level while a Punjab Human Rights Cell, headed by the additional inspector general of police (Research and Development), would monitor their performance.

Besides the AIG (R&D), the Punjab Cell included Arshad Mahmood Malik, the regional director for human rights, and Iftikhar Mubarik, a rights’ activist, the official said.

The official said that on the instructions of the prime minister all capital city police officers (CCPOs), district police officer (DPOs) and regional police officers (RPOs) have been directed to complete investigation of human rights’ abuse cases within two weeks and file reports to the directorate and the newly-established cells.

Arshad Mahmood Malik, the regional director of human rights, has divided the province among three officials: Mohammad Zia Aftab and Abdur Rasheed, deputy directors, and Sana Tahir, a public relations officer. These officers have been directed to monitor the rights’ violations and conduct inquiries.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2010.