Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that maintenance of law and order in the society is the responsibility of police and no laxity would be tolerated in this regard. He said he was personally monitoring law and order situation in Lahore as well as the whole province, adding that all necessary resources had been provided to police and "now it is its responsibility to improve efficiency."
He said strict action would be taken if any case of extortion of money came to his notice. He directed that the process of recruitment of 4,000 ex-servicemen in police should be completed within two weeks. He was presiding over a high level meeting to review law and order situation in the province, here on Tuesday. Advisor Jehanzeb Burki, Members Assembly Pervaiz Malik, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Mian Marghoob Ahmad, Hafiz Mian Nauman, Zaeem Hussain Qadri, Khawaja Imran Nazir, Advocate General Punjab, IG Police, Secretaries of Home and Prosecution departments, Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board, Commissioner Lahore Division, District Co-ordination Officer Lahore as well as concerned officers were present.
The CM was given a detailed briefing regarding law and order situation in the provincial metropolis as well as the whole province. Addressing the meeting, the CM said that showing performance only through statistics was not sufficient as the police would have to serve as the servant of the people in the real sense for curbing the crime.
He said general impression of the people about the police would have to be changed as the masses were the best judge of the efficiency of police, adding that police should perform its responsibility of protection of life and property of the citizens in an efficient manner.
He said the culture of extortion of money would not be tolerated in Punjab and strict action would be taken if any such case came to his notice. He said that police should play an active role for curbing street crime and the recruitment of retired army Jawans in the police would result in considerable improvement in the law and order situation.
He said the aim of maintenance of law and order could not be achieved simply through registration of cases as immediate arrest of the criminals and effective follow-up of cases in the courts was essential. He directed that challans should immediately be submitted in the courts.
Similarly, he said, the standard of investigation of cases of heinous and sensitive nature should also be improved, and directed that police website should regularly be updated and police should also share its performance with media. He said police helpline 15 was an important source of promotion of sense of security in the masses and there was a need to make this helpline state-of-the-art for further improving its efficiency.
The CM issued instructions for the formation of a high-powered committee for better appraisal of law and order situation and announced that police officers and officials of the three districts of the province showing best performance would be given cash prizes every month, while action would be taken against the district displaying poor performance.
He said that among the districts showing the best performance regarding maintenance of law and order and the control of crime, the top three police officials would be given cash prizes of Rs 500,000, Rs 300,000 and Rs 200,000 respectively, while in the district holding second position, the police officials would be given cash prizes of Rs 400,000, Rs 200,000 and Rs 150,000 respectively.
He said Rs 300,000, Rs 100,000 and Rs 75,000 would be given to the top three police officers and officials of the district occupying the third position. He said that efficiency of police officers would be determined on merit and in a transparent manner and the criterion of selection would be evolved by Home Secretary and IG Police Punjab. The CM also directed to consider the proposal of setting up court police force for security at the courts, and to activate Citizen Police Liaison Committee for curbing crime.
The CM, while taking strict notice of the murder of the daughter of a poor Christian of Kasowal (Sahiwal), ordered immediate action against the accused and directed that IG Police should personally redress the grievance of the aggrieved family. He warned that the murderers, no matter how influential they are, would not be able to escape justice.
Comments
Comments are closed.