ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad administration has recently written a letter to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), asking him to furnish a report on the present status of [ineffective] public conciliatory committees; however, despite the passage of one week, the IGP has not responded to the letter yet.
During the Pakistan People Party (PPP) regime, public conciliatory committees were formed in June 2008 – comprising representatives of police and citizens – to resolve the public issues of minor nature on the directions of then interior minister Rehman Malik.
The reconciliation committees were performing well till 2013-14 [on-and-off] at all the police stations of the capital and meetings were held almost every month with the relevant SHOs and Citizens Police Coordination Committee (CPCC) members; however, after the 2013 general elections, the committees had become almost dysfunctional, but still they were working ‘on papers’.
Sources said that last meeting regarding the performance of the CPCCs was chaired by the Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Operations Sajid Kayani in 2016. After that, no meeting has been arranged in this regard whatsoever.
“At present, there are 22 police stations in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), and at least two dozen cases have been registered on a daily basis, and due to a lack of manpower and increasing work burden for the investigation officers, police cannot properly attend to the cases of serious natures,” said an official of Islamabad administration.
It is noted that last month, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Senior Vice President Khalid Malik, while addressing a delegation consisting of senior police officials, had said that the reconciliation committees, comprising representatives of police and citizens if revived would play an effective role in resolving disputes.
When contacted, Ramna Station House Officer (SHO) Irshad Ali Abro said that it is true that the public-police conciliatory committees were ineffective for years that caused a huge burden on investigation officers and police officials.
“The said committees should be revived and non-politicised people should be made part of these committees. Earlier, non-educated and political people were made chairmen of the committees and they were used favour to parties on pretexts of political links,” he said.
Aabpara SHO Khali Awan told Pakistan Today that the committees are working properly at almost all the police stations, adding that a dispute between siblings was referred to the CPCC recently and with the collaboration of a member of the ICCI, the matter was successfully resolved, he explained.
Moreover, Kohsar SHO Asjad Mehmood also said that a 10-member CPCC is effectively working at the PS Kohsar. He, however, said all the reported cases are not referred to the CPCC, but only cases of minor issues and the committee is performing well in dealing with these issues.
The IGP’s spokesperson did not respond when contacted.