Call for public discussion on police reforms bill

The Women's Action Forum (WAF) has urged the Sindh government to make public the draft law being prepared for police reforms and to allow public consultation prior to its presentation on the floor of the provincial assembly.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the WAF also demanded that the new law must empower the police chief for effective command and control over his subordinates and strengthen the police secretariat, rather than putting the Central Police Office under the direct control of politicians.

WAF members from Karachi also registered their concern that the provincial authorities, in violation of the constitution, were attempting to pass certain laws in a covert manner.

“We demand that the provincial government introduce a mandatory requirement of open public consultation on drafts of every law before it is presented in the parliament,” said WAF’s Mehnaz Rehman.

With specific reference to the police reforms draft law, the activists regretted that it was being rushed to the floor of the Sindh Assembly for a vote without an open public consultation.

Taking strong exception to the interference of the provincial authorities in the affairs of the Sindh police, the activists were of the opinion that the provincial government's attempt to secretly present the police reforms bill in the assembly for voting was non-transparent and, therefore, questionable.

Mentioning that Sindh IGP AD Khowaja had recently, through a letter to the Sindh chief minister, complained that the introduced changes undermine the IGP's authority over the force, the activists said they agreed with the provincial police chief’s viewpoint that such moves would paralyse the functioning of the police department as an organisation.