BRIEF HISTORY OF PUNJAB POLICE REFORMS
Mainly in the history of Pakistan main reforms were taken by the Former President General Pervez Musharaf back in 2002. At that time, many terrorist organizations like Tehreek-e-Taliban were active in the country. To stop these activities, Pervez Musharaf made a reforming policy for the police to serve the citizens and to control the peace situation in the country as well. Civil servants that time opposed this decision. Because they didn’t want to leave their influence on this department. At that time with these reforms; police-men and government servants salaries and scales were also rose. As it is a local topic therefore, local incidents and references are being used. There are numerous controversies related to the police. There are controversial incidents of police like the D-chowk, Gullu Butt Model Town incident, Sahiwal incident, Abid Boxer statements confessing target killings of Mian Shahbaz Shareef. Similarly, in the Sindh; Rao Anwaar said that I’ve done numerous police encounters just to kill targets assigned by the Asif Ali Zardari. These are all the controversies which are of the police department. Back in 2016, the uniforms of Punjab police were changed under the leadership of Mian Shahbaz Shareef. A controversy was seen regarding the corruption in the budget of these uniforms.
On the other hand, cricket is here back in Pakistan after a decade just because of security forces like the police. A decade ago, when the Srilankan cricket team was attacked by the terrorists in the Liberty Chowk(Lahore). It was police-men who immediately took action and saved the team. And police-men got martyred there as well. It is their sacrifice. More than 5,000 policemen have laid down their lives from 2002 till now for the nation. And this number is growing day by day. Because in terrorist attacks, bombs, protests, or emergencies for the nation. Pakistan is the only country that has won the war against terrorism just because of our police and military. Pakistan has fought a war in these past two decades. As we’re discussing Punjab police, but we’ll comment KPK police as well. Their IG Nasir Durrani has done a lot for the police. They have made a great change in the police culture by the reforms. First of all KPK police is de-politicize.
Reforms are mainly the changes made in the department. According to the “NAWAI-E-WAQT” reported by Chaudhry Farhan Shoukat Hanjra, a new police culture should be introduced and the very first person who took the step on this was SHO Narang Mandi Naveen Anjum Awan with accordance of the vision of IG Punjab Captain(R) Arif Nawaz Khan. He has the vision that the best policy should be implemented. In his area, he has made a waiting area in which people come and wait.SHO Narang Mandi meet people and hear their issues. Police there don’t sit in the stations. They just roam around in the area which results in an impressive decrease in street crimes like robbery, thief, snatching, target killing, kidnapping, etc. People of that area are really satisfied and happy with this new culture which is a kind of controversy for the people who oppose and criticize police at all forums.
Shahnawaz Sarmad who is a writer and a social worker in his article of Duniya News stated about another step being used to change the perception of people regarding police is that it takes time and money to register a complaint in the station of a citizen. And it is almost impossible for a common man to get assistance from a higher rank officer of police. A common man with no links in the society can’t get justice in this rigid system. Therefore, online complaint centers are set to help citizens. People use 8787 helpline to register a complaint. Within the first 8 hours of the complaint, an action takes place.
People consult higher rank police officers like SP, DSP with this helpline. These province-wide complaint centers were made in 2016 by IG Ahmed Sukhera. Young IT officers take the complaint and forward it to no less position than DSP. By this, a revolutionary change is made into the police department. Syed Badar Saeed who is a columnist and a script-writer. He shares his experience with scriptwriting. He wrote that dramas and media just work for the sake of ratings. Numerous times he was narrated to write a script for the ratings. He wrote that many times it has been seen that one side of the story is shown just to get ratings and public attention. Our media’s role in this perception is really important.
Back in history, journalism was quite a responsible profession. But, these days showbiz and journalism have been merged because pretty faces for the ratings are promoted and angling of news or camera is practiced to get views and publicity. He stated an incident in an article of Ary News Article that on a check post SHO and other policemen were on duty. A car on checking was taken 5,000,000RS and the car people were also criminals. It was night time. The car people offered them about half of the amount to them as a bribe. More than a wealth of 50,00,000RS weapons were also there. It was a golden opportunity for them. It was that amount that they even can’t get it on their retirement. But, they refused and feared Allah. They all were acknowledged with the gift amount and reward as a certificate.
This article is influenced by the research of Suleman Gilbert ‘PERCEPTION OF URBAN LAHORI’S REGARDING PUNJAB POLICE’
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