Police performance comes under fire during Peshawar District Council session

PESHAWAR: The District Council members on Tuesday vent anger at the senior superintendent of police and termed his presentation an attempt to paint a rosy picture of policing in the provincial capital even though it was alarming.

District Naib Nazim Syed Qasim Ali Shah convened the session in which Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Javed Iqbal presented the police performance report.

The District Council offered fateha for the martyred police officer Tahir Khan Dawar who was kidnapped from Islamabad and taken to Afghanistan where his body was later found.

Briefing the members, the police officer said the strength of Capital City Police was 7, 928. However, he said that 2,500 to 3,000 cops were policing while the remaining ones were on security duties.

The senior cop presented comparative data of crimes. He informed the council that traffic accidents had increased in the city. He attributed the rise in traffic accidents to the ongoing work on the Bus Rapid Transit project.

About 80 women were abducted in 2018, the SSP Operations said, adding, 37 proclaimed offenders were either killed in action or died of natural death.

Javed Iqbal caused concern among the councillors when he presented data about the “Ice”- related drugs crimes and acquittal of the accused for lack of legislation.

The senior cop said there were no specific sections to book the criminals involved in “Ice” smuggling and sale. “We book such criminals under the narcotics sections that normally deal with charas and other drugs crimes,” he said.

The official said these criminals usually get bail from the courts. However, he added that police had requested the government to make legislation for such cases.

Some District Council members took out anger at the senior cop for police’s lack of respect for common citizens and local traditions.

A member, Gul Afzal, said the attitude of station house officers and other field officers dealing with common citizens is different from what their seniors boast about.

He alleged that the police humiliated common citizens during search operations. “When arrests are made in search operations, the police ask their relatives to contact the army while the army personnel declare it a police matter,” he explained.

Gul Afzal said the government had made the martyrdom of Tahir Dawar controversial when it showed helplessness in conducting the investigation. He staged protest for a brief period.

Another councillor, Raham Nawaz, said humiliation was still better than abduction, torture and extrajudicial killings. He claimed that police personnel were involved in the abduction of citizens. He alleged that the cops were running torture cells in the city but nobody could dare take notice of the situation.

“Had action been taken against Station House Officer Ibad Wazir when he had violated the law and humiliated women during a raid, he would not have killed an innocent citizen in custody,” he argued.

The councillor said the police had rendered more sacrifices than the army, but people of questionable character were earning a bad name for the entire force.

Another council member, Rehman Afzal, claimed that two persons had been picked up from Bhanamari locality two days back but the police had failed to make any headway in the case.

He claimed that the issue of disappearances was not limited to Bhanamari as such cases could be found in other parts of the city as well.

Opposition leader Saeed Zahir termed the SSP’s presentation discouraging, saying that the crime rate was rising with each passing day. He said the police presentation was ‘all good’ but the reality was quite the opposite.

He alleged that policemen were involved in kidnapping for ransom. “The discovery of Tahir Dawar body from Afghanistan was a question mark on the performance of the police,” he maintained. Some members put forward suggestions for improving policing in the provincial capital.