PESHAWAR: The Cabinet Sub-Committee for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights unanimously approved the key 'Rule of Law Roadmap Priorities,' which is aim at decreasing acquittal rate in serious crimes and also reduce case disposal time and burden in overcrowded prisons, with a focus on under-trial prisoners.
“The objective of the roadmap priorities is to build the trust of citizens seeking support from the Rule of Law Institutions in the province, which truly depicts the vision of the prime minister of Pakistan,” said Sultan Mohammad Khan, Minister of Law Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while addressing the session.
He emphasised that the roadmap approach guides the institutions for improving their efficiencies as well as addressing hurdles and bottlenecks in cross-institutional coordination towards the effective dispensation of justice.
On behalf of the chief minister and provincial government, he assured his full support in taking up the process of roadmap implementation in coordination with the criminal justice institutions for achieving the milestones in timely and effective manners. He said that all the key issues identified and discussed should be addressed at all levels as required and that the Cabinet Sub-Committee should move towards finding solutions in its next meeting.
Inspector-General of Police Sanaullah Abbasi, presented a comprehensive plan to improve the efficiency of police for the delivery of roadmap results. He shared the initiatives being taken to improve investigation standards and quality including the increased focus on the provision of the victim support services. He also shared the recommendations for the budgetary revisions necessary to institutionalise the measures to be taken for the reform agenda of the roadmap.
Meanwhile, Sanaullah Abbasi reviewed the reform and budgetary requirements of the force and took a number of decisions with a view to bring improvement in services.
The KP Police chief approved the new rates for cost of investigation to provide relief to the victims of crimes and achieve justice outcomes. He emphasised on the need for providing advance funds to the investigation officers so they don’t face any hurdle in conducting effective crime investigation. In order to bring much-needed improvement in the investigation, Abbasi approved the creation of specialised function of police investigators with a degree in law graduates or equivalent qualification in criminal sciences, forensic who will be provided extensive one-year training on all modern techniques of investigation.
The IGP ordered the development of a new authorisation policy for police vehicles based on population, crime rate and area of a police station. It will help bring transparency in the vehicle authorisation and will also address vehicle shortage at police stations. Current fuel authorisation policy was approved in 2009, which is inadequate to meet the current needs to conduct police patrolling and security operations.
The IGP asked officials to prepare a new fuel authorisation policy and send it to the KP government for approval. He pointed out that the financial powers at various hierarchical levels of police officers are grossly insufficient, which hinders the provision of policing services to the public. He asked officers to send the case for enhanced financial powers to the Finance Department for approval.