News Details

28/02/2018

Our government had a commitment to reform the police, made it apolitical and sensitized it to the improved law & order situation

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has said “our government had a commitment to reform the police, made it apolitical and sensitized it to the improved law & order situation, better security and bringing out the masses from the fear syndrome”. An independent and administratively empowered police force had started delivering for changing the Thana culture, eliminating the third degree method in Thana and more dedicated to its professional responsibilities. Police in the province changed with a change role dedicated to crime fighting and mitigating people’s sufferings, he added. He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Affairs (INL) Funded Police projects at Chief Minister Peshawar. Director INL Gregory Schfell and IGP Salahuddin Mehsud also addressed the function. A detailed presentation was also given at the occasion regarding the INL funded projects for police in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the upgradation of services, strengthening of institution and improved security cover in the province. These projects included Police Lines Kabal Swat measuring 70 Kanal of land have been completed with the cost of Rs. 371 million. Three police stations in Swat that included Kabal, Rahimabad and Mingora costing Rs. 265 million have been completed. A joint police training Centre Nowshera costing Rs. 657 million measuring 400 kanal of land for the training requirement of police has been completed. Police Lines Daggar measuring 200 kanal of land with the cost of Rs. 800 million have been completed. 31 police posts with the cost of Rs. 800 million have been completed for strengthening of security crescent around Peshawar. Another additional works at JPTC has been completed with the cost of Rs. 90 million. The upcoming projects in the Phase 2 included an additional amount of Rs. 800 million to fulfill the requirements of the training centre. Addressing the function, Chief Minister said he wanted police committed and dedicated to this original task of professional policing, fighting crimes and making a difference by performance. He said when PTI took over in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, like other institutions, police stayed one of the most politicized institutions in the province, protecting the interest of political elites. Political interference in Police was at its peak and police was not fighting crimes but had become a tool to promote crimes, he added. He said people had doubts about the role and overall performance of police adding his government inherited a legacy of mis-governance in both operational policing and investigational policing partly because of the lack of capacity, training and partly because of serving ruling elite that created wrongs in the society and the people used to suffer and crimes kept on creeping in the society, he added. He said his government had no other option but to reform the police to deliver for crime control, improved security cover to the people and improved law & order situation in the province. The ultimate goals of his government end desire were sensitizing police to the crime fighting, improving law & order situation, establishing the writ of the government, giving results through their performance and satisfying the people through their performance and delivery. Chief Minister said this province was the worst terror hit province of the country. The war on terror brought along new waves of terrorism to this province. The inflow of mass scale refugees increased the graph of crimes and that is also one of the factors for terrorism in the province. The people and our arm forces heavily sacrificed in the war on terror, he added. He said there were certain incidents that appeared to be a wakeup call. These incidents included uncontrolled acts of terrorism and crimes of both felony and misdemeanor and the history of police performance had never been up to the mark in the past. Peace is the essential requirement of development. The whole governance structure rests on peace, he added. He said the absence of peace dismantle the very social fabric of the society and it equally collapses the whole governance structure. He said, he transferred his own power and authority to make police a true professional force. Later his government legislated the empowerment and independence of police that was necessary to eliminate Thana culture, eliminate the use of third degree method in Thana and it is appreciable that police changed with a changed role dedicated to fight crimes and mitigate the suffering of poor, he added. Pervez Khattak undisputedly we have a long history of misuse of powers and authorities. Successive rulers misused powers and authority for their political ends. Police was used by the past ruling forces for their political gains. We wanted to change this mindset. We gave police independence both financially and administratively and introduced the factor of public accountability at different layers so that the misuse of power and authority could be effectively checked, he added. Chief Minister said the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed a sharp decline in the acts of terrorism and incident of crimes because of the new and professional role of police. 51% decline in the acts of terrorism. We have a better border management and the combined search operation considerably controlled terrorism and crimes in the province, he added. Pervez Khattak said his government facilitated the police to use modern technology for policing for better results. We also introduced the system of reward and punishment in police adding that because of his government backing, this province has 41 dispute resolution councils that solved 17000 cases and have 26 Police Assistance Lines to help more than 4 lack citizens. This province established counter terrorism department in 2014 and his government introduced canine unit, Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU), Special Combat Unit (SCU), Rapid Response Force (RRF), Elite Women Commandos, Traffic Warden, City patrol, Police Access Service (PAS), he added. Chief Minister said his succeeded in establishing specialized schools such as School of investigation, School of Tactics, School of Traffic Management, School of Intelligence, School of Information Technology, School of Public Disorder and Riot Management, School of Explosive Handling, Elite Training School.More than 17000 officers have been trained in these schools and the process of training our police officers is going on, he added. He said this province has training schools such as Police Training College Hangu, Police Training School, Swabi (2015), Police Training School, Swat (2016), Police Training School, Mansehra and Police Training School, Kohat. We have a long list of achievements and expected the police to further improve its professional skills for crime fighting and add an humane feature to their responsibilities. He hoped that police after empowerment and independence would give matching response through its performance and delivery for improved law & order situation, efficient security cover and whole time dedication to eliminate terrorism in the province, he added.