IGP’s lecture at University of Peshawar: Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies reiterates IGP spoke online, all SOPs were followed

PESHAWAR: The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Peshawar has reiterated that the Inspector General of Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Sanaullah Abbasi, delivered his lecture in an online seminar on June 19 at the institute and all standard operating procedures were followed on the occasion.

Clarifying a news item published in The News that raised questions about the visit of the provincial police chief to the university when the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the government to enforce social distancing and lockdown, the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies said it hosted the lecture online to ensure that there is no physical interaction between the speaker and the audience. It disputed the assertions made in the news item and termed them misleading.

It added that this was the first online seminar of its kind on the issue of “Policing in the Merged Districts” to inform the students about the best policing practices being extended to the former tribal areas. The institute maintained that no student was present at the venue keeping in view the SOPs implemented by the government and the university and the Vice-Chancellor Muhammad Asif Khan too joined the event online and made a few concluding remarks to thank the guest speaker and to express the hope that his lecture would help enhance the learning capacity of the students, particularly those belonging to the newly merged districts.

Hussain Shaheed Soherwordi, the director of Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, told The News that IGP Sanaullah Abbasi spoke online to deliver his lecture and answered questions from students of different university departments online. “As the pictures show, he came to our institute with a small number of his staff wearing facemasks and gloves and keeping a safe distance,” he argued.

An earlier press release said the IGP was received at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies by its Director Hussain Shaheed Soherwordi and escorted to the venue for delivering his online talk. The IGP was later presented with a shield. He also signed the visitors’ book.

The press release said hundreds of students of various university departments including Political Science, International Relations, Journalism and Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies attended the online seminar. It explained that the IGP provided updated information to his audience about the introduction of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police in the newly merged districts and its effective performance that contributed to marked reduction in acts of terrorism, attacks on the police and other law-enforcement agencies, terror financing, target killings, kidnapping for ransom and cases of extortion in 2020 compared to the corresponding period of the year 2019. The IGP also dwelt at length about the police development plans for the merged districts. He also highlighted the police actions against drug-traffickers and gun-runners.