Senator Babar Awan of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) on Monday said that freeing the police from the clutches of politicians, and withdrawing them from the protocol duties of people at helm of affairs, their relatives, and friends are the only solutions to enable the police to serve people with honesty.
He stated this while speaking on a motion moved by Senator Chaudhary Tanveer Khan of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to discuss the need for provision of adequate salary, fringe benefits and other facilities to Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police. Senator Awan said that not upholding merit in giving promotion in police department was yet another major issue, which destroyed the police system in the country. The instant case of Asher Hamid, a senior police officer, who was found dead in his official residence last week, according to Babar, was due to out of turn favour to his juniors.
"Asher was under immense pressure as his juniors were promoted using their political connections, but he was transferred to Tuftan area of Balochistan ...this was the reason, he lost his life," he lamented.
Chaudhry Tanveer, who was the mover of the motion, proposed that the government should built residences for the policemen, besides making proper arrangements for their transport. He proposed that like military, police should also be given transport facility after undertaking official duty. Azam Khan Swati of PTI called for implementation of Police Ordinance, 2002, adding it is crucial for democratic police reforms, as its implementation has been slowed down due to resistance from political executive, bureaucracy and repeated amendments.
Senator Muhammad Hamza of PML-N also stressed the need that the police must not be used by the politicians, saying no political interference in matters of the police will be the first step towards to restoring trust of people in it. Winding up the debate, State Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Baleegur Rehman argued that ICT police was drawing salaries equivalent to Motorway Police (the highly paid police), adding that lack of adequate resources is the main hurdle to further increase their salaries.
"The police department across the country especially ICT police are drawing good salaries, perks and privileges, but due to lack of resources we could not increase their salaries any further, as there are other government departments which also demand similar treatment," he added.
About withdrawal of police from protocol duties, he said that compared to previous government, police is less burdened as far as duty with VIPs is concerned, adding that the present government had withdrawn a massive number of police and other paramilitary personal from protocol duties of politicians and other important personalities. He said that all the hiring and posting were done purely on merit through National Testing System (NTS). The government has also eradicated the quota reserved for parliamentarians, he added.