PESHAWAR: As only a week is left to decide the fate of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act, the top bosses of the force are making all-out efforts to develop consensus in the provincial assembly over some controversial sections and pass it before it lapses on January 26.
A meeting of the select committee of the assembly, presided over Wednesday by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, approved a number of points that were opposed previously.The sources said the powers of transfer and financial affairs have been given to the inspector general of police (IGP) who is not supposed to consult the chief minister.
However, the opposition wants the chief minister to have the powers of transferring district police officers (DPOs) and regional police officers (RPOs). Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani also wanted that the future IGP should be completely independent and apolitical and shouldn’t have to seek the approval of the chief minister for transferring senior cops.
According to the IGP, this will end political interference in the force. The source said the IGP told the committee that the force has been made accountable to the elected institutions compared to the past so in case of an issue any senior officer can be taken to task through the concerned commission at the provincial and district level.
The source said that senior police officers also agreed over the issue of direct recruitment of deputy superintendent of police in grade-17. However their quota has been reduced from 25 to 5 percent
Officers of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) and a majority of the rankers were against the direct induction of the DSPs.The officers who were recruited as DSPs in the past, along with a group of rankers and some politicians, were in favour of direct recruitment of DSPs.
A group of junior officials recruited as constables and assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) last week wrote a letter to the IGP and circulated it on social media that they won’t accept direct recruitment of the DSPs in the force. They believed the direct induction of DSPs would reduce their chances of promotion to grade-17 and 18.
Another group whose officers have been promoted to grade-17 and would not be affected by the direct induction of DSPs also held a meeting the other day. “We neither support nor oppose the direct recruitment of the DSPs. We just want proper service structure for all of us. The probationers and junior officials should get equal opportunities of promotion,” said a member of the group.
A group of officers who were recruited as DSPs has asked the government to restart direct recruitment in the police in grade-17 to overcome the shortage of officers in senior grades. They also demanded proper service structure for those directly recruited as DSPs in grade-17 and ignored in promotions since long.
Majority of them have been inducted into the Police Service of Pakistan while others are still looking for provincial quota for the PCS cops.A section of the bureaucracy and some politicians supported the demand of the PCS police officers to treat them like the Provincial Management Service and other provincial groups with proper quota, service structure and direct recruitment.
Some members of the constabulary have claimed that all these groups have been working for their rights while the huge majority of constables and head-constables who offered huge sacrifices in the war against terrorism were never given any chance to speak for their rights in the proposed Police Act.
A handout issued after the meeting said the Select Committee of KP Assembly on Police Bill 2016 in its 3rd meeting unanimously proposed drastic amendments in the draft bill after threadbare discussion to make police a model force and give it full autonomy with check and balance mechanism to prevent misuse of authority. “The draft bill will hopefully be presented in the next meeting of the cabinet and after approval it would be placed before the provincial assembly for enactment,” it added.
It said the meeting took certain important decisions to make the draft bill effective, balanced and responsive to the public needs and aspirations.The statement said the meeting decided to make Public Safety Commissions vibrant, proactive and effective to keep vigil on the police and discourage misuse of power. To remove flaws in lodging of FIR, the meeting proposed changes in the existing procedure to make it more transparent and redress public grievances.
“The meeting decided the mode of posting of IGP under which in the absence of the relevant provision for the shortlisting of probables and finalizing the three probables, the federation will send the list wherein the chief minister will pick one amongst the suitables for onward posting as IGP in the province,” said the communique.
Likewise, the meeting also agreed to empower police to block the road in case of emergency. However, exercise of this authority will be subject to the prior approval of government. The police will have the power to give permission for holding public meetings and processions.
