KARACHI: Inspector General Police A.D. Khowaja has said that the Police Act 1861 was not workable at all in dealing with crimes of 21st century hence, this more than 150 years old act, has to be replaced with a new Police Act which must ensure operational and administrative independence to police department.
Speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, IG Sindh requested Karachi Chamber to advocate this demand to replace the obsolete Police Act 1861 with a new Police Act which must focus on transforming police from ‘police force’ to ‘police services’.
In response, Chairman BMG Siraj Kassam Teli agreed to fully support IG’s demand for new Police Act in lieu of the obsolete Police Act 1861 which will be immediately taken up by the Karachi Chamber.
Karachi City Police Chief Mushtaq Maher, Chairman Businessmen Group Siraj Kassam Teli, Vice Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala, President KCCI Shamim Ahmed Firpo, Senior Vice President KCCI Asif Nisar, Vice President KCCI Muhammad Younus Soomro, Former Presidents KCCI AQ Khalil and Younus Muhammad Bashir, Chairman of Law & Order Sub-Committee Mansoor Ahmed and others were present on the occasion.
AD Khowaja also advised Karachi Chamber to form a focal committee in association with Police Department in order to jointly discuss and identify law and order issues, besides devising strategy to deal with numerous issues particularly the rising street crimes.
He further said that in order to deal with politicization of police department, he has taken some irreversible steps, of which the most important step is the recruitment of officers which is now being done by the Pakistan Army in association with CPLC and only those officers were being recruited purely on the basis of merit who qualify NTS exams.
He informed that a batch of 4,000 officers will be completing their training by Pakistan Army on February 10, 2017 whereas another batch of 15,000 officers will be sent for training on February 15, 2017. This particular step, besides dealing with the issue of politicization, will provide some of the best and well-trained officers to police department, he added.
