Police stations to be shifted from rented buildings

Khanzada says police culture is not citizen friendly.

LAHORE: The government has provided funds and land for shifting police stations housed in rented buildings, Home Minister Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada told the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday.

“Land has been identified for shifting police stations situated in rented or other departments’ buildings. The process will start in three days,” Khanzada said.

The minister admitted that the police was not functioning smoothly and the police culture was not citizen friendly. “People are reluctant to go to the police stations to register their complaints,” he said.

Questions pertaining to the home department by several members had not been answered in a year and a half. The speaker directed the minister to present his report on the issue within a week.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) members supported Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) member Dr Waseem Akhtar when he said that the police system needed overhauling.

“The chief minister is focusing on changing the police station culture,” the interior minister said.

He said that a day should be reserved to discuss the reforms being made to overhaul the police system and he would brief the members. The speaker said that one day would be reserved for the debate during the current session. Khanzada told the house that illegal bookies were involved in betting on sports, including cricket, in the Punjab. “They do not have a formal infrastructure. They run their businesses over telephone. The police take action whenever they get information about such activities,” he said. Khanzada admitted that the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) lacked the capacity to recover stolen cars and bikes. “Information technology is being introduced in the database management. This will increase the performance of the institutions. Vehicles are stolen not only in Lahore but across the province,” he said. Khanzada said that anti-car theft squads were stationed at all exits from the districts to ensure that stolen cars did not leave the area. “Sometimes stolen cars are not taken out of the district. Instead they are disassembled and sold in the spares market,” he said. The interior minister told the house that 100 model police stations had been established. He said their performance was better than the other police stations.

The house passed the Punjab Arms (Amendment) Bill 2014 and Punjab Explosives (Amendment) Bill 2014. The speaker adjourned the proceedings after completion of the agenda till Thursday 10:00 am.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2014.