PESHAWAR: The officers of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSPs) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have joined hands with the cops from Punjab to oppose the proposed police reforms that, they believed, strengthen other cadres.
The Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) and the PSPs have once again locked horns recently, this time over the proposed police reforms in Punjab province. The PSP officers from KP have been openly criticising the proposed reforms on social media and in their formal and informal meetings for the last few days.
"We are planning to hold a meeting to convey that we will not accept these kinds of reforms. If they want to introduce reforms, the KP Police Act is an ideal law which was passed by the government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf when it was ruling KP and which was a major slogan in the 2018 general elections," some PSPs told this scribe after an informal meeting.
A large number of senior and junior police officers from Punjab recently threatened to resign over the proposed reforms, saying this is a deliberate effort by the senior PAS officers in Islamabad and Lahore to strengthen their deputy commissioners (DCs) and clip powers of the district police officer (DPO).
On the other hand, a source said, the officers from the PAS are now calling the opposition from PSPs to the proposed reforms an attempt to avoid accountability and oversight mechanism on the force. The PAS officers are adamant to carry on with the proposed reforms, the source said, arguing the new system will help improve the performance of police at the police station level and will give relief to the public.
The PSPs want to replicate the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act in Punjab and other provinces with external accountability by the elected bodies and other forums, instead of any accountability by another cadre. Under the act, the inspector general of police (IGP) has complete powers to transfer any of the police officers in the province, event to the rank of the additional inspector general.
Similarly, the PSPs argue, the DPO is accountable to the Public Safety Commissions and Complaint Authorities at the provincial, regional and district levels. Most of these commissions and authorities, however, are yet to be formed for technical reasons.
The commissions and the authorities will initiate an inquiry in their area of jurisdiction against a police officer and will take action under a mechanism. The PSPs argue that under the proposed system in Punjab, the PAS wants to strengthen DCs in the district with delegating more powers, including inspection of the police station after they have already been given judicial powers under 22A and 22B.
The clash between the PAS and PSP for more powers is not new. The same had happened in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for years with bureaucracy opposing several sections in the KP Police Act. The act, however, was passed and implemented by the previous provincial government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
