LAHORE: Spokesperson to Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Gill, on Wednesday announced that Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had ordered that every deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and district police officer (DPO) would be required to submit an affidavit that there was no torture cell within their respective station’s jurisdiction.
The order comes after several cases of custodial death surfaced in Punjab where the ruling PTI came to power amid repeated claims to end the notorious police culture in the mega province.
Addressing a press conference, Gill shared some of the immediate steps taken by the provincial government to tackle the situation.
“If an incident of torture occurs following the submission of the affidavit, a first information report (FIR) will be registered against the respective DPOs and DSPs instead of police officers and sub-inspectors as is generally done,” he said.
Gill further said that CM Buzdar had expressed a desire to form an independent board and enforced in the police to keep an eye on the general police conduct.
In case of an incident, journalists, school teachers and people from different walks of life would be included in the board, he revealed.
According to Gill, the body would be free of external meddling and independently investigate an incident.
During the press conference, Gill admitted that fixing the police department was a “very difficult job”.