Chief Justice (CJ) Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP), Justice Gulzar Ahmed, has voiced serious concerns over the performance of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police and Sindh Police.
Chairing a meeting of the Police Reforms Committee (PRC) on Thursday, Justice Gulzar slammed both police departments for having the lowest conviction rates in the country, adding that it is the biggest reason behind rising crime rates in Islamabad and Sindh.
On the contrary, Justice Gulzar lauded the performance of police departments of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan.
The meeting of the Police Reforms Committee was held in Islamabad to review the implementation status of its report titled “Police Reforms: Way Forward.”
Incumbent and former IGs of all police departments, secretaries of Interior Ministry, Law and Justice Ministry, Planning Ministry, and home secretaries of all federating units attended the meeting.
At the start of the meeting, Justice Gulzar Ahmed asked all IGPs to brief the meeting about the legislative reforms launched in their respective departments to improve the accountability and service delivery of the police officers.
IG Sindh said that unnecessary interference from political personalities and lack of availability of modern equipment due to insufficient financial resources are the reasons behind the underperformance of Sindh Police.
IG Islamabad briefed that ICT Police has established a Prosecution Department. The conviction rates of ICT Police will improve significantly in the coming months.
IG Punjab added that several police officers have either been suspended or dismissed from service after they were found involved in a number of different cases. Punjab Police has also solved a number of high-profile terrorism cases with the help of modern techniques like CCTV cameras.
IG KP said that KP Police enjoys complete autonomy without any external interference. KP Police has set up Dispute Resolution Councils in every district that are playing a central role in decreasing crime rates.
IG Balochistan apprised that the province is one of the hardest to police given the presence of armed separatist groups. However, Balochistan Police has successfully repressed these groups.
IG AJK told that AJK Police has set up a new position of SP Overseas to resolve the complaints of overseas Pakistanis. It is also using social media platforms to address the grievances of the citizens.
IG GB said that the people of GB are the most peaceful and law-abiding citizens of the country that is why the region has very low crime rates. GB Police has set up Hotel and Travelers’ Eye initiative for the safety and facilitation of tourists.
