Reforms made to change ‘thana culture’: CM

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Wednesday said the provincial government had introduced reforms to change ‘thana culture’ and provide relief to the complainants.

This he said while presiding over the second meeting of the select committee on KP Police Bill 2016 that proposed separation of forensic lab and establishment of an independent forensic lab authority.

The provincial ministers, leader of the opposition, members of provincial assembly from the treasury and opposition benches and government functionaries attended the meeting that had a threadbare discussion on the proposed Police Act 2016.

The participants of the meeting made a number of decisions to amend the proposed draft of the bill. They decided the mode of the appointment of the inspector general of police (IGP) under which the federation would send the list of the aspirants and the chief minister would pick one among them.

The chief minister formed a committee comprising representation from the government, the opposition and other stakeholders to amend the proposed Police Bill 2016. Pervez Khattak said the present method of the registration of the first information report (FIR) had several flaws and it needed to be changed to make it transparent.

The chief minister and the participants of the meeting agreed to strengthen the three layers of safety commission. He said that power and authority carried a huge responsibility and the present bill should encompass all the legalities.  The chief minister added the government should check the misuse of power.

He said that a law should be uniform and for all the people without any discrimination. “There should be enough evidence for making an arrest so that the cases could be proved in courts,” he maintained. 

Pervez Khattak said there should be monitoring teams and oversight committees to change ‘thana culture’ and make it sure that justice was done.  The chief minister agreed to the recommendation that the in-charge of a police station should be held accountable if flaws were found in the first information report.