SWABI, March 4: Peace committees would be set up at police station level to maintain peace in the district and find viable solution to problems of people, said Abdul Rashid, the newly appointed district police officer, here on Sunday.

Speaking at an open kutcheri, he said that he wanted to know about the difficulties being faced by the people of the area and devise a strategy to mitigate the same. He said that it was responsibility of police to keep the district peaceful.

The open kutcheri was attended by leaders and workers of several political parties. The local leaders and workers of opposition parties informed the DPO, who assumed charge of his office two weeks ago, about the problems of people.

The proposal of forming peace committees has been floated at the time when militants have started targeting educational institutions in the district.

When asked about the committees, Mr Rashid told Dawn that there were eight police stations in the district and a peace committee would be set up at each police station. He said that the committees would be consisted of white-bearded and elders of the respective areas.

“These elders know how to tackle issues of people and find out peaceful settlement to disputes,” he said, adding that police would extend all possible help to the members of the committees.

To a query, he said that the committees would have no political motive and their only work would be to resolve problems of people and keep the district peaceful. Political meddling in the committees’ affairs would not be allowed at any cost, he said. He added that he had advised the station house officers of all police stations to prepare a list of the honest people, who could deliver according to expectations of people, to include them in the peace committees.

“Once the list is finalised, it will be presented to me. The characters and contributions of people will be discussed before selecting them for the committees,” he said.

He added that the entire process was expected to be completed within two weeks as they were serious in formation of peace committees.