LAHORE: Punjab Inspector General Police (IGP) Capt (r) Arif Nawaz Khan on Thursday said that the Punjab Police, according to the vision of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and the Punjab chief minister (CM), is working hard to promote the country’s soft image by providing security and guidance to tourists by forming a tourist police team for the Kartarpur Corridor.
He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the tourist police department during his visit to Narowal. Additional IG Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP) Manzor Sarwar Chaudhary, Gujranwala regional police officer (RPO) Tariq Abbas Qureshi, Narowal district police officer (DPO) Zulfiqar Ahmad and other senior officers were also present at the occasion.
The IGP further said that the tourist police would perform their duties with responsibility by working hard to make the visits of Sikh pilgrims and other tourists memorable, adding that the new avenue for tourism would hopefully play an important role in boosting the economy of Pakistan.
“After Kartarpur, the tourist police’s ambit will further be increased to Murree, Fort Monroe and Nankana Sahib, further increasing the department’s prestige and honour,” he said.
The first contingent of tourist police in Narowal will consist of 100 personals trained in crime-fighting and public dealing at the Police College Lahore (PCL) and they will be equipped with the latest equipment and heavy bikes. The tourist police will also provide any required legal assistance to the visiting pilgrims.
The IGP also lauded the efforts of Additional IG PHP Mazoor for forming a special contingent of the tourist police in a period of one month and visited Darbar Sahib to review security arrangements for the opening ceremony to be held on November 9 where he was briefed regarding the work done in this regard by Kartarpur Special Protection Unit (SPU) Incharge Major (r) Abid Bhatti.