PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has increased the monthly salary of all policemen by Rs2,600 irrespective of posts and extended the tenure of special police force for another three years.

An announcement in this respect was made by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak during a speech at a police darbar at Malik Saad Khan Police Lines here on Monday.

The chief minister said the increase in the police’s salary would put a burden of Rs2 billion on the provincial exchequer but the government would bear it as the step would help reform the system of policing.

He praised police over efforts to protect public life and property by fighting terrorism and crime bravely.

“Under the package, the minimum increase in the salary of every policeman will be Rs2,600 per month, while the risk allowance of bomb disposal squad and K-9 sniffer dogs unit staff will go up by Rs5,000 per month each,” he said.

Mr Khattak also said the contract of the personnel of special force in Malakand and Peshawar regions had been extended for another three years along with an increase of Rs5,000 per month in their salary, while the contract of ex-servicemen had been extended for two years bringing their package on a par with those of regular policemen.

He said though the pay increase would put additional burden of Rs2 billion on the provincial exchequer, in light of the dutifulness and unprecedented sacrifices of police, it had unimportant for the provincial government.

The chief minister, however, said the government and people of the province expected that police would bring about positive change in their behaviour and would turn themselves into a model force.

He said the government would equip police with modern arms and ammunition in line with their needs.

Mr Khattak said the provincial government was proud of policemen, who faced every challenge with bravery but never abandoned checkposts due to the militants’ attacks.

He said neither police had the capacity to combat terrorism nor were they tasked with doing so but even then, police like army valiantly combated terrorists.

The chief minister said as a result of the sacrifices of policemen and civilians, the restoration of peace was around the corner, whose ultimate outcome would be progress and development in the province.

“We are happy that our police force has also joined the ‘change agenda’ of the provincial government. If the process continues, then purging society of criminal and corrupt elements will not take a long time,” he said.

Mr Khattak said the government was committed to cleansing its departments of all kinds of irregularities, corruption and nepotism and for the purpose, the process of effective legislation was in progress.

“We will put in place a strong system based on supremacy of law and merit and thus, restoring the people’s dwindling confidence in institutions,” he said.

The chief minister said all government departments would be purged of corruption, malpractices and nepotism by legislation and its effective enforcement to bring about the change for good,” he said.

He said a system had been introduced in the province to ensure accountability of the top men of the government for their actions.

“We have made interference in police a story of the past and that the police chief has been given a freehand to enable our police force to deliver,” he said, adding that turning police of the province into a model force, an asset and pride of the nation was his only desire.

Mr Khattak said the government would ensure effective implementation of the Police Order 2002 and other recommendations of the police task force.

Earlier, Inspector General of Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nasir Khan Durrani thanked the chief minister for cleansing the department of political and administrative interference and said on the basis of their sacrifices and spirit of service, police in the province would emerge as the best police force in the world.

He said during the last four months, police had traced 129 cases of terrorism, arrested 44 terrorists despite facing 57 attacks, and defused 282 bombs in the province.

The police chief said work on the establishment of bomb disposal units in every district was underway and that 27 sniffer dogs had been purchased and the number would increase to 50 by June this year.

He also said work on the establishment of school of intelligence and school of investigation in Abbottabad and Peshawar respectively was in final phase.

Mr Durrani appreciated the courage of police in the province in the fight against crime and terrorism.