Political will key to transform police, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee of the Whole House was informed Thursday that political will was key to transformation of the corruption and lethargy-infested police into a committed, vibrant and efficient law-enforcement agency, regulated by a mechanism of accountability.
A former police officer and criminologist, Shoaib Suddle, blamed successive martial law regimes for making the police force almost redundant. It was felt that criminal justice system in Pakistan had failed to evolve itself in line with the world standards, and the common man bore the brunt for this massive flaw.
He said policing had over 40 ‘specialisations’ but in Pakistan there was no concept as such, let alone practice of on-job specialised police training. He also stressed for increased pays of police employees. He said, “When you give power to somebody while paying him low, he starts exploiting you.”
Briefing the forum, which met here under Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani at the Senate Hall, along with Afzal Ali Shigri, a former inspector-general of police, who is known for his integrity, Suddle said that the martial law regimes had made the role of the police irrelevant.
The committee is currently debating a motion on how to ensure speedy and inexpensive justice to the people, where the experts from diverse background are invited to give their opinion so that it can give its recommendations to the government for implementation.
Suddle laid emphasis on the need for a political will for transformation of the police into a model institution like the Motorway Police. “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used to travel via the motorway from Lahore to Islamabad when it was first built. He (Nawaz) was also issued traffic ticket by the Motorway Police, which he accepted and this was reason it helped in making it model institution,” he pointed out.
Constant political interference, he noted, was one of major reasons that the police was today unable to perform its duties as desired. “Even a police constable should not accept the illegal and unlawful order of the politicians,” he said.
“Political interference, recruitment without following the merit, lack of enough resources, are some of the factors, coupled with the fear of the saying no the political bosses by the seniors police officers of IG level, are the reasons, we could not improve out policing,” he believed.
The former police officers said that the Police Ordinance 2002 was introduced with much gusto, aimed at reinventing the police to prevent and detect crime more efficiently and maintain public order but it was also not implemented by successive civilian governments.
They said that it was a comprehensive piece of legislation, which was also endorsed by some international agencies such as EU and was adopted by a good number of foreign countries including India, but Pakistanis are only good at making policies, and implementation had never been their priority.
Suddle, who also served as director general of the National Police Bureau (NPB), said, “if the government had made the bureau fully operational by giving it all the resources, we would not have needed to create National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta), which has again become dysfunctional due to lack of proper resources and funding.”
Regarding the Federal Tax Ombudsman, he said it could play an important role in resolving the issues if made a proper institution with adequate resources and powers, saying the existent body had no importance as it did not enjoy powers.
He recommended independent ombudsman on criminal justice at provinces. He said that there was a need to pay special attention towards detection instead of putting people behind the bars on the basis of FIRs, which turn out to be fake in most of the cases.
Terming the intelligence gathering as the lifeline of the policing, he proposed to do away with the policy of inducting non-PSP officers in the Intelligence Bureau (IB). He said that the presence of special branch at sensitive at tehsil level as well as at sensitive police stations was a must in order to control the menace of crime.
To a question by Senator Mushahid Sayed on an effective counter-terrorism policy, he said there should be a close coordination among all the intelligence agencies, and the key role should be played by the Interior Ministry.
He pointed out that the National Public Safety Commission, which has been made dysfunctional for the last 8-9 years, should be made functional again. Suddle underscored the need to ensure accountability within the police service.
To a question by Senator Farhatullah Babar that police should not make arrests only on the basis of FIRs without investigation under public pressure, he said a policeman should be worth his a salt to resist the pressure if he is a soldier.
“I would like to stress that the media should out-rightly condemn the arrests without evidence and the courts. Frequent transfers of IGs and the SHOs should be stopped and once an SHO is punished, he should not be appointed at his position ever again, which will help in streamlining the corrupt police system,” he added.
About A and B-Areas – areas which are manned by and are under the control of the Levies are called B-Areas while those under the control of the Balochistan Police are dubbed A-Areas – he said there should be one system whether A or B.
Chaudhary Muhammad Asharf Gujjar, advocate Supreme Court, who is also convener of committee on legal by the prime minister, said that notary public and oath commissioner – a legally authorized individual who can administer oath and witness and authenticate documents – should be abolished, as their role is nothing but stamping a document without any verification.
Gujjar said that the fine for extending stay orders on fake grounds should be increased from the current Rs10,000 to Rs150,000. Another proposal from Gujjar was not to give adjournment on the request of the lawyer, adding there should be a proper law, binding the judge of the lower courts to conclude criminal cases within six months while civil cases should be disposed of within a year.
He said that in case of any delay by the judges within the given time frame, he/she should be bound to explain the reason before the chief justice of the concerned high court, saying over 90 percent cases in lower judiciary, are pending for several years, depriving the people of their right to justice.