Submitting tenant details, as mandated under the Punjab Information of Temporary Resident Ordinance, has become a challenge for citizens who allege that the police are forcing them to shuttle between police stations and the offices of local politicians and government officials.

The Punjab government promulgated the ordinance on Jan 8, as a security measure, in order to acquire details about tenants and guests staying at hotels and inns in the province.

The law requires landlords to submit details about their tenants and hotel owners to submit details about guests to the nearest police station. The homeowner and the tenant have to submit a form with the required details to the police.

However, residents claim the police have forced people to visit police stations and queue outside them for several days. They said the government should run an awareness campaign on what the government requires from landlords, homeowners and tenants.

Residents have said the police have made unnecessary objections to forms and forced people to return with the right information, verified by two individuals in their respective areas, which becomes a problem for those who do not have guarantees from influential individuals.

The matter was also discussed at a Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) meeting of elected union council chairmen on March 3, where it was decided that police officers would be called to the next meeting of the elected house so that verification by the elected representatives would be accepted.

Former PML-N MNA Malik Shakil Awan told Dawn residents of Rawalpindi were having problems submitting details with police stations because the police were using tactics to get money from them.

“The only solution to gather information about temporary residents is to empower union council offices and public representatives. All the union councils connected with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and the government should collect all such details at the union council office instead of the police station so that people do not face mistreatment from the police,” he said.

He said it was strange that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had directed to facilitate people at Nadra offices with the introduction of simple procedures of identity cards and passports, but the police had made such procedures difficult.

The former general secretary of the PTI Punjab North, Zahid Kazmi, said while the registration of tenants was a good move, the implementation of the law was wrong.

“Without involving local politicians and public representatives, the Punjab government gave the police a free hand to register tenants.

The police made it a source of bribes from the low-salaried in the name of the law, as it is mostly the salaried class and low-income group that rent houses or rooms,” he said.

Mr Kazmi claimed homeowners and tenants have to spent anywhere between Rs1,000 to Rs10,000 to submit the required details without any difficulties, and added that the police were making money from the procedure.

He added that in a civilised society, the police respected citizens who shared their personal details with the police, but in Punjab the police terrified the people.

“In Westridge, there are many labourers working in marble factories who are from the tribal areas and other parts of the country, but the police did not register them and have no records,” he said.

Malik Waseem, the chairman of union council 21 (Dhoke Kala Khan and Shamsabad) who is from the PML-N, said the provincial government should simplify the registration procedure.

“Over 50pc of the people in my union council have rented their houses to people working in the Islamabad government and private firms, as the area is in the middle of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. But the police are teasing people and arrested tenants and landlords who refused to grease their palms,” he claimed.

He said the police did not accept verification from the elected representatives of their respective areas regarding the conduct of a tenant and landlord. “The government should issue directives to the police to accept the verification of the area’s elected representative,” he said.

A landlord in Sadiqabad, Mohammad Akram, has rented out the upper portion of his house and visited the police station to submit the required details. However, he told Dawn, the police told him he had visited too late. Under the law, they told them, the details should be submitted within 48 hours of the tenant moving into the house.

Mr Akram said he contacted the local union council chairman and five days later the police accepted his details and entered the information into a computer. He said he and his tenant received a stamped copy.

Suhail Anwar, a homeowner on Peshawar Road, said he had to visit the local police station three times in one week with his tenant to submit their details.

“We are ready to give the details, but the procedure is long. It is a waste of time. The government should simplify the procedure,” he said.

He added that renting and renting out a house has become a difficult job in Rawalpindi because of how frequently tenants and landlords have to visit the police.

When contacted, Rawalpindi police spokesperson Imran Haider said the procedure for submitting information on tenants and guests was a simple one. He said it was the people that had made it difficult, not the police.

“The people did not submit the details for the last two years and when the search operations were launched in the areas the people rushed to police stations to submit details in fear of arrest under the law,” he said, adding that the people should put a stop to their lethargic attitude and cooperate with the police.

He said that when 200 people arrive at a police station to submit details to two computer operators, the police will work slowly.

“It is the people’s duty to submit the details soon after their tenant moves into their house to avoid long queues outside police stations and to read the instructions on the forms carefully,” he added.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2017