Afghans-Pashtuns in Punjab to be given Police Verification certificates
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LAHORE: Following media reports on racial profiling in Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad in Punjab, the provincial police issued new directives to facilitate the Afghans/Pashtoons in order to spare them further botherations as anti-terrorism action speeds up.
According to directives in a notification issued from Inspector General of Punjab police dated March 1, 2017, a certificate may be issued to Afghan/Pashtoon people who have verified bio-data.
The notification states, “In coordination with the District administration, certificate may be devised for issuing to the Afghan/Pashtoon community residing in the District whose bio-data has been verified so that they may present the same to the security agencies while travelling/search operation to avoid repeated botheration.”
The letter further says, “These certificates should have photographs of the individuals and its online verification should be accessible to avoid fake documentation.”
The police have been advised to allow entry to Afghan/Pashtoon who has the certificate.
The notification states, “At the entry and exit points the verified/security cleared Pasthtoon/Afghan having issued the certificate from the district police may be allowed entry, after due verification/search.”
Police have further been directed to appoint a focal person of the Afghan/Pashtoon community in the district in coordination with the district administration so that he may help the local police during the process of combing operations in the area.
Other directives include the lady personnel should accompany during the combing operation while searching houses.
The letter said, “The operation should be conducted indiscriminately/across the board and no particular area/community should be targeted/searched time and again unless there is any specific development/intelligence report.”
