TOBA TEK SINGH: District dispute resolution committees (DDRC) will be set up all over Punjab to solve petty issues of people who have to contact police stations.

This was stated by Punjab IG Amjad Javed Saleemi at a police darbar in District Police Lines during his first visit to his hometown on Sunday.

He said these petty disputes often led to murders so he had sought approval of the chief minister for the establishment of committees that would start functioning within a month. He said no political figure would be made member of the committees and only impartial notables including educationists, engineers, doctors and journalists would be included in these committees.

He said they would hear the cases and settle disputes with active participation of the community so that no case could be registered by police or tried by courts. He said each committee would have 20 to 25 members who could be divided to form sub committees for specific cases and their recommendation would be mandatory for police.

In the cases which would be resolved by the said committees, he said, the discretionary powers of investigation police officers would be abolished and they would have no power to arrest anyone. He said a discipline matrix system was being introduced under which the system of the suspension of policemen on petty complaints and their reinstatement just within couple of days would be changed and the SHOs would be allowed to work with liberty.

He said a welfare counter had been opened in his office in Lahore in this regard. He said every sick policeman would be treated with welfare funds. He said it was his responsibility to restore the respect of his 200,000-strong force in the province.

He said there was no shortage of financial resources and the funds would be generously used for the welfare of the policemen.

Two PTI MPAs Saeed Ahmad Saeedi and Bilal Asghar Warraich, PTI central vice president Chaudhry Muhammad Ashfaq and former MPA retired Brig Javed Akram also met the IG on the occasion. He inaugurated new buildings of police stations at Pirmahal and Kamalia.

During darbar a policeman complained that his father served the police department and laid down his life in an encounter but the reward the then IG had announced in 1992 had not been paid. The IG ordered immediate payment of the money to his family.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2018