Sindh govt to soon notify constitution of provincial public safety commission

The Sindh government in the coming few days will formally notify the constitution of a 12-member provincial Public Safety and Police Complaints’ Commission as envisaged in the new police act of the province for having oversight on the working of the provincial police force.

Law Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab told newsmen at the Sindh Assembly building on Monday that hopefully the Public Safety and Police Complaints’ Commission would hold its first meeting in the next 10 days once its composition was completed.

He said that the constitution of the provincial public safety commission had been in line with the commitment of the provincial government that there would be an institutional arrangement for having check and balance on the working of the police as envisaged in the new police law for the province.

He said that correspondence had been sent to the leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly for seeking nominations from him of the opposition legislators of the house as members of the Public Safety Commission as hopefully the opposition leader would send the recommendations in this regard shortly.

Wahab said that the passage of the new provincial police law by Sindh Assembly earlier this year was among many other legislations lately adopted by the provincial legislature for doing good governance, ensuring excellence in public service and safeguarding fundamental rights of the people in the province.

The home minister will serve as the chairperson of the Public Safety and Police Complaints’ Commission. Six of the members of the commission will be from the Sindh Assembly -- four from the treasury benches and two will represent the opposition.

Meanwhile, Barrister Wahab appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan for announcing a special assistance package for areas of the province affected by the recent heavy monsoon rains. He said that such a relief package should be announced by the federal government as the Sindh government in the previous fiscal year had received much less money from the Centre as its due fiscal share in the federal divisible pool.

He said that owing to the consistent shortfall of financial transfers from the Centre to the province, the Sindh government had been unable to meet its regular recurring expenses and also could not undertake special relief measures for the disaster-hit population in the province after the heavy monsoon rains.

He termed the completion and commissioning of the 660-megawatt Thar coal-based power plant as one of major achievements of the first year in office of the new government of the Pakistan Peoples Party in Sindh.