ISLAMABAD – A Revolt has been feared in Punjab Police Senior Ranks againstproposed Police Reforms, it has been revealed.
Senior officials of the Punjab Police met at the Central Police Officer onWednesday night and intimated that they would tender their resignation. Thepolice officers clearly mentioned that they would resign rather than allowthe bureaucracy to take charge of the police department.
The meeting was convened by Arif Nawaz Khan, IGP retired to the fears of a“revolt” in the ranks after the PM Imran Khan green-lit the homedepartments to take charge of the police in Islamabad, Punjab and KhyberPakhtunkhwa.
Under the reforms, the deputy commissioners (DCs) will handle the majorfunctions of the department after being empowered with judicial powers of22A and 22B alongside the power to inspect police stations. Earlier thiswas at the sole discretion of the police.
Sources told the media that they had agreed to highlight their concerns bytaking this up with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. The IGP was nominated bythe senior policemen to brief the chief minister and inform him of theirconcerns.
Read Top Stories
After the IGP shared the draft of the policy with those gathered, TariqAbbas, from Gujranwala raised concerns and said he would resign, which wasthen seconded by Sahiwal RPO Hamayun Bashir Tarrar, Sargodha RPO AfzaalKausar and other DPOs.
Meanwhile, others were of a different opinion saying that the seniorofficers should brief the CM and fight their case. This included Multan RPOWasim Sial and RPO, Imran Mahmood. While B. A. Nasir, Lahore CCPO suggestedthat they should take the Punjab cabinet into confidence and engage themedia. He suggested that the department should devise their own reforms andbring them to the policymakers.
CPO Rawalpindi, Faisal Rana, said there was no precedent for such policereforms and said that Punjab police was the only one that had resolvedimportant issues but other law-enforcement agencies such as Rangers and FCwere deployed in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar to supplement police inmanaging law and order situation and terrorism.
