Nasir Durrani agrees to reform Punjab Police

PESHAWAR: After declining offers in the last almost two years, the former inspector general of police Nasir Khan Durrani has finally agreed to assist Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government in reforming the Punjab Police.

Sources close to Nasir Khan Durrani told The News that he had agreed to accept the new task as hinted by Prime Minister Imran Khan. “Nasir Durrani has agreed to reform the police like that of KP,” the source said. Imran Khan in his maiden address to the nation gave full credit to Nasir Durrani for reforming the KP Police and making it the best among the police forces in the country. He said Nasir Durrani would be asked to help the government reform the Punjab Police on the pattern of the KP. The KP Police has emerged to be the best among the provincial forces as it not only bravely faced the terrorists and suicide bombers but also introduced institutional reforms. Earlier, soon after his retirement in March 2017, Nasir Khan Durrani was asked to head the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission. However, he declined the offer by saying he wanted to go back to Lahore. His name was also considered first for the caretaker chief minister of KP and later for Punjab but he declined. Now the former police chief of KP is being given the task to reform the Punjab Police like that of the KP Police. Durrani while heading the KP police for almost three and a half years had introduced a strict accountability by dismissing around 800 policemen and awarding another kind of punishments to over 6000 others. These actions reduced corruption within the force to a great extent.Besides, he set up the police assistance lines in all the districts, the police access service, he established six specialised schools, formed a special combat unit of specialised commandoes on the pattern of Special Services Group of the army, reformed the Counter-Terrorism Department and introduced technology based investigation like geo-tagging and others. The six specialised schools are providing special training to policemen about handling explosives, information technology, traffic management, tactics, anti-riots techniques and improved intelligence and investigation. The reporting rooms and female desks have helped introduced public friendly policing at police stations. The rivals of Durrani in bureaucracy and other sectors, even within the force, termed his reforms and mere bubble that will burst once he leaves the force. Others criticised the steps were cosmetic.

However, the tributes paid by Prime Minister Imran Khan in his first address to the nation proved all of the critics wrong. Many PTI leaders and workers have admitted that police reforms were one of the major achievements of the PTI government in KP and it was all made possible because of a police chief like Nasir Khan Durrani.