Police officers told Human Rights Watch that increasing demands placed on the police have made maintaining law and order and ensuring public safety more arduous in Pakistan. In addition to regular policing duties, the government has placed the burden on the police to counter threats and violence posed by armed extremist groups and organized crime related to the arms and drug trades and land-grabbing.
Pakistan has a federal system of governance. The provinces have primary responsibility for maintaining public order and investigating crimes. However, the federal government maintains oversight of the police because it recruits and manages the officer cadre of the police through the Police Service of Pakistan. The Penal Code of Pakistan and the Code of Criminal Procedure are uniformly applied to most parts of the country.[1]
Police Order 2002 In Urdu Pdf Download
In 2001, the military government initiated a system of decentralization reforms (the 2001 Local Government System) that transferred several administrative powers from the civil bureaucracy at the district level to an elected nazim (mayor).[16] The government also initiated a set of police reforms in Police Order 2002, which effectively eliminated the dual control of the police that had existed since colonial times.[17]
Police Order 2002 also addressed many organizational and structural problems that had hindered proper functioning of the police. Operational duties were separated from investigation and the institution was organized into branches and divisions according to their different functions.[18] Assignment to these branches and divisions was to be based on experience and training.[19]
The 2002 order also aimed to make the police more publicly accountable. It called for establishing several grievance redress and oversight bodies, constituted of elected and nominated members (including women), at the district, provincial, and national levels.[20]
The significant accountability provisions of Police Order 2002 were also watered down. In essence, the provincial government was able to ensure a greater role for itself.[28] Another positive oversight reform, the Police Complaint Authority (PCA), was also affected by the 2004 amendments. In the original order, the functions of grievance redress and public oversight were kept separate so that both issues could be addressed adequately. However, in the 2004 amendments, the PCA was merged with the Provincial Public Safety Commission (PPSC), which was formed of provincial legislators and nominees.
In 2010, further changes were made to the police system when the constitutional protection granted to Police Order 2002 under the 17th Amendment lapsed and provinces were able to frame their own policing laws. Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa decided to base their laws on Police Order 2002, while Sindh and Balochistan decided to adopt a law similar to the colonial law, the Police Act of 1861.[30] At present, therefore, the laws governing the police vary across provinces.
My family went to the local police station to have an FIR registered. However, the police turned them away saying that the location where the attack had taken place did not fall within their jurisdiction. When my family went to the other police station in the area, they were given a similar response. Obviously, the landowner was influencing the police. After getting turned away by two police stations, we were left with no option but to approach the court. The court accepted our application and ordered that the FIR be registered.
However, in order to pressure my family, the landowner approached another police station and accused me of stealing his motorcycle. As he is a man of influence, the police registered his complaint despite the fact that I was lying injured in the hospital at the time. I later learned that the elected representative, who was from the same tribe as the landowner, also influenced the police. The case against me continues to this day and as a result, the police constantly harass me and my family. Of course, there has been no progress regarding the FIR that I had registered against the landowner. There is so much injustice in this area. No one can challenge the landowner and those who do are made to suffer.[58]
The following day, the landowner released the woman and we took her to the police station and forced the police to give her a medical examination. Sadly, however, the delayed medical examination weakened our case. I am sure this was the objective of the landowner and the police. The landowner had locked the woman and her husband together for a day in order to be able to maintain that the couple had sexual contact and that she had not been raped.
Since then, I have tried approaching all authorities, including the court and the police. The capital city police officer ordered an inquiry and a registration of a criminal case against the officers involved. However, since the investigation was conducted by the colleagues of the killers, all of them were declared innocent. I have been pursuing this case daily for six years. It seems I will die trying to get justice for my brother and nephew.[93]
My son, Bilal, was working as an employee of a local political leader in Lahore. I received a call informing me that my son had been arrested by the police and I immediately left for Lahore. When I reached the police station on the morning of April 19, 2014, I saw that my son was handcuffed and lying face down on the floor. The SHO said he was arrested because the police had orders to arrest [his employer] and everyone who was with him at that time. I pleaded with the SHO and told him that we are people from the tribal areas, and have nothing to do with the political rivalries in Lahore. He refused to listen and ordered his staff to throw me out of the police station.
Police officials told Human Rights Watch that force is only used in retaliation: that is, when assemblies do not remain peaceful and protesters threaten public order by resorting to violence and rioting. Independent analysts, however, say that the police resort to violence because of lack of training in the principles and practices of crowd management.[110]
Hundreds of villagers gathered soon afterwards toprotestagainst the arrest of Sattar and four other tenant farmer leaders. The police and army were deployed in armored personnel carriers. After several protesters threw stones, the security forces carried out baton charges and used tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters. Dozens werearrestedunder various anti-terrorism and public order provisions and many remain detained at undisclosed locations. Numerous witnesses told Human Rights Watch that security forces beat and arrested protesters, arresting some from their homes in the middle of the night.[113]
On February 2, 2016, workers of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) staged a protest in Karachi against the proposed privatization of the airline. They clashed with large contingents of police and the Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary border security force deployed in the city with police powers. Police used a water cannon and teargas to prevent the protesters from marching towards the Karachi airport. Rangers joined the police, charged the protesters with batons, and then, according to witnesses, began firing at them, killing two and wounding two others. The police and the Rangers both denied firing at the protesters.[118]
Many police officers told Human Rights Watch that increasing demands placed upon them have made maintaining law and order and ensuring public safety more arduous in Pakistan. In addition to regular policing duties, the government has put the burden on the police to counter threats and violence posed by armed extremist groups, as well as organized crime related to land-grabbing and the arms and drug trades. However, police have not been given the requisite training and resources to handle these added responsibilities. While these are responsibilities appropriately within the mandate of the police, they have been added on without consequent upgrades in police capacity for these new roles.
For the past several years, Pakistan has been experiencing serious power outages, which often last up to 18 hours in rural areas. Despite the nature and importance of police work, police stations in both rural and urban areas of Pakistan have no backup power supplies or systems. It is quite common to find the SHO and subordinate staff sitting and working at desks set out in an open area, such as a courtyard, in order to escape the heat.
Police functioning is also hindered due to lack of financial resources for arms and ammunition.[139] Police officials at several police stations said that they were unable to undertake proper maintenance of arms and did not have sufficient ammunition. This has been raised as a major problem in Quetta, where law and order has deteriorated considerably and police have come under frequent attack.[140]
Senior provincial-level police officers told Human Rights Watch that a major problem preventing the police system from properly functioning is the unwarranted interference of the civil bureaucracy. The civil bureaucracy opposed Police Order 2002 because it removed the control that the district magistrate previously had over the police. The bureaucracy therefore attempted to prevent implementation of the law and put pressure on the political elite to amend elements of the new legislation.[160]
As discussed in Chapter II, police in Balochistan are generally restricted to urban areas, primarily Quetta, while the Levies maintain law and order in most other areas of the province. While the government pays the salaries for the Levies, in practice Levies personnel are controlled by, and remain answerable to, the local sardar, or tribal chief. This system of dual authority, in which there is an institutionalized absence of the police from most parts of the province, coupled with the continued strength of the tribal system, is a key reason the police force in Balochistan remains relatively ineffective and powerless. 2ff7e9595c
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