With focus on specialised units, Sindh earmarks Rs89.9bn for police

The Sindh government has allocated Rs89.9 billion, or 11 per cent of the province’s overall budget, for the police department for the next fiscal year.

During his budget speech on Thursday, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said: “Mr Speaker, our great leader Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah said that ‘remember that the scrupulous maintenance and enforcement of law and order are the prerequisites of all progress’.”

In keeping with the Quaid’s principles, he said, the government had made the maintenance of law and order its topmost priority.

“With the blessing of Almighty Allah, untiring efforts of law enforcement agencies and support of our brave people, we have been able to restore peace not only in Karachi, but to the entire province. No doubt, street crime has not come to grip as effectively as it should have. However, I am hopeful that with the dedicated efforts of our law enforcement agencies this menace will also be eliminated with the passage of time,” he added.

“Mr. Speaker, the police department has been moving towards specialisation and professionalism. In this regard, more specialised units have been set up such as Counter Terrorism Department, Special Security Unit, Rapid Response Force, Anti-Riot Unit, Anti Car Lifting Cell and IT cadre, etc.

“Human resource capacity of the police is also being enhanced through meritocratic recruitment through NTS, training by the Pak Army, better incentive packages, and introduction of welfare schemes as well as benefits under Shaheed Compensation and Recognition Act, 2014.”

As a token of our gratitude, Shah said, Rs1,000 million had been allocated for disbursement as compensation to the families of martyred and injured personnel of security forces, the recruitment of 10,000 police personnel was made through the NTS, and Rs159 million was provided for the training of newly recruited police constables at the Pakistan Army’s training centers.

He further stated that investigation capability was being enhanced by establishing a state-of-the-art forensic lab, besides a DNA lab and a crime database.

“For the first time in the history of the Sindh police, all driving licence branches throughout the province have been centrally connected and driving licences are being delivered to the applicants at their doorstep through courier service.

Public-police interface is being strengthened by establishing facilitation centers at each divisional headquarter for providing people-friendly one-window police services to citizens, including the registration of FIRs, lodging of miscellaneous complaints, etc.

“A large number of schemes are proposed, particularly in the following areas: revamping of the CTD and creating a professional and dedicated force styled as Counter Terrorism Force (CTF); enhancing compensation for Shaheed/injured [personnel] at par with other provinces and allocating a Rs2 billion compensation package; creating 2,782 posts for the security of CPEC-related projects; 2,959 posts for training, Crime Branch, traffic and technical training Sindh for the enhancement of the capacity of these units; and 11,259 posts of different ranks for the Sindh police.”

According to the chief minister, it has also been proposed to allocate funds worth Rs5.712 billion in 2018-19 for the purchase of physical assets, Rs5.348 billion for the Sindh police, Rs306.855 million for the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, Rs14.865 million for the Frontier Constabulary, Sindh), and Rs42.996 million for the home department and its attached offices.

“Mr. Speaker, there are certain measures which are out of mandate and purview of provincial governments. We have therefore taken up them with the federal government for further improvement in overall crime control, for example, [by] setting up an integrated national database comprising CNIC, driving licence, vehicle number plate, arms licence, SIM etc; making unified criminal record database at national level with access available to all the law enforcement agencies; and developing a mechanism for effective monitoring of social media including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.