Islamabad : For the first time in the history of Pakistan a serious effort was made back in 2001 to get rid of the colonial Police Act introduced by the British back in 1861, which was basically to suppress the local people and enslave them.
The same 1861 Police Act was adopted by Pakistan after independence in 1947. So, effectively, despite getting independence after a long political and legal struggle, people of Pakistan were still being controlled through the cruel Colonial Police Act 1861.
In 2001 a serious effort was initiated to change the situation and bring about a more conducive and effective policing system for which a four-member think tank, headed by former Inspector-General of Police Afzal Ali Shigri, along with former Inspector-General Dr Shuaib Suddle, former Inspector-General (Punjab) Qazi Zulfiqar and a London-based expert, Z.U. Khan was established under National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), which started deliberations and finalized the Police Order 2002.
The idea was to establish ‘Police Commissionerate’ with greater administrative powers to impose the law in an effective manner. Basically, it was to be more independent in its operations and work beyond the cover of the ‘Pakistan Administrative Service’ or the ‘District Management Group’ comprising assistant commissioners, the deputy commissioners and the commissioners.
The government of the time tried to implement this ‘Police Order 2002’, but for one reason or the other it could never be implemented in full. The question still remain unanswered as to which were the circumstances, or who were the prime and powerful hurdles in the implementation of Police Order 2002 for the last 18 year, even during the military regime as well as during the civil democracy?
Afzal Ali Shigri, a respectable name in the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) and author of the Police Order 2002, when questioned by this correspondent, said, mainly politicians were not in favour of implementing the Police Reforms.
“Not only politicians and Pakistan Administration Service (PAS) group showed resentment against the Police Order 2002, but some top police officers were also against the police reforms,” former IGP Afzal Ali Shigri said, adding that one of the IGP Punjab openly expressed his bitterness against the Police Order before the High Court.
It was mentioned in the ‘Police Order 2002’ that Police, being the lead agency in maintenance of internal security is yet to be reformed, despite transient of four regimes – Musharraf, PPP, PML-N and now PTI – but the previous governments have botched implementing Police Order 2002 in Islamabad Capital Territory.
There has always been conflict between police and Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) which used to gobble-up energy and resources of both the institutions.
It was believed that the PAS remained the main resistance in the implementation of the ‘Police Order 2002’, the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers orate, the PAS officers occupy prime positions in the government set up to govern the system.
Under the PAS administrative system, the initiatives of police officers were controlled and institutional growth of police was hindered. The system was also abusive of age old principle of responsibility with authority as a deputy commissioner enjoys supervision over the police force but when something goes wrong, only the police officers would bear the brunt.
Almost 18 years have lapsed but the ‘Police Order 2002’ has yet to come of age in Islamabad and is still awaiting its proper implementation by the provinces and the federal government. The piece of law was promulgated in order to repeal the draconian Police Act of 1861. However, as mentioned in the Crisis Group report, police reforms were sacrificed for political expediency.
Unfortunately, Pakistan lagged behind because of resistance from vested interest groups to preserve their colonial powers.
To be continued
