Prime Minister is present!

The civil force of a state, which is responsible for the detection & prevention of crime as well as maintaining law and order can be described as police. Its prime duty is to protect people and their property. Their common duties include patrolling, responding to emergency calls, delivering warrants, and arrest criminals who violate the law of the state. For the last few months, the Lahore police department has been doing an excellent job. For the first time in history, to provide relief to the innocent citizens, Prime Minister (Imran Khan) has started a program (وزیرِ اعظم حاظر ہے) to personally listen to the complaints of suffering citizens. A woman from Quetta complained about the occupation of her house in that program. She told that after a 65-year teaching service, her mother bought a single-story house that was occupied by the Land mafia. The house was relinquished but the tenant owes her Rs.5 lakh rupees. Upon her complaint, the Prime Minister assigned Inspector General Punjab Police the task to take action on her complaint who further gave the orders to his talented officer CCPO (GM Dogar). The task was assigned to SSP CIA (Shoaib Khurram Janbaz) who took immediate serious action and after all, the lady got her 5 lakhs back.

Recently, the Lahore police took serious action against the rascals and renowned gangsters of the land mafia. Considered as a symbol of terror, Gogi Butt, Mansha Bomb, Ilyas Gujjar, Faisal Lamba, Liaqat Jhedu, Subhan Jutt, and many more accused involved in other crime were arrested. Before this, no one ever dared accept such a challenge. Data against criminals involved in different crimes were collected through secret sources, and serious actions were taken against them. In 360 cases, 522 rascals were brought to Justice. 478 latest weapons were recovered from the accused. The Land Mafia had made the lives of not only decent citizens but also Overseas Pakistanis miserable. A total of 313 seizures were handed over by Lahore police. Also, Police jailed 617 Occupy Mafia suspects. In all, 3746 Kanal of land worth more than Rs34 billion was relinquished from the accused. Taking action against the mafia and thugs has led to a marked reduction in crime. The Senior Superintendent Police CIA (Shoaib Khurram Janbaz) completed the task assigned to him in a superb way. There was an 18% drop in street crime after the operation.

Recently, a press conference was presided by CCPO in which DIG Investigation and SSP CIA were also present. A briefing was given on the intelligence-based investigations of the CIA. The CCPO said: “We have arrested 6 thieves involved in the robbery in Irfan-ul-Haq house. The accused consists of Shafqat, Arsalan, Sarfaraz, Ehtisham, and Ali. We have recovered wealth amounting to 2 crores and 5 lakh Pakistani rupees. Cash amounting to 28 lakh rupees and gold sets amounting to 1 crore 28 lakhs was also recovered from them. Moreover, for selling equipment related to fireworks, we arrested 4 inter-province dealers and took all the equipment in our custody. 13 criminals involved in different crimes are arrested also. We have recovered 3 crore and 67 Lakh rupees from them. The accused (Javed) who killed the citizen named Shehbaz has been arrested.” According to the details, SSP planned a raid to arrest the criminals and gave this mission to DSP CIA (Javed Siddique) who completed the task.

In the report of February, Lahore Police executed effective and timely action with a coordinated operational strategy for the eradication of crimes. The ratio of challenging in cases of arrests of dacoits was comparatively better than all others districts as Lahore Police submitted 47 % of challans in the courts. According to the performance evaluation reports, Lahore Police arrested as many as 450 dacoits during the following month by efficient patrolling plan and intelligence-based operations. The incidents of motorcycle thefts also remained less than the previous months due to better monitoring and patrolling mechanism and awareness campaigns by the police department. The Police timely traced and completed most of the challans in rape cases as well, during last month. Response time of Lahore Police on helpline 15 calls also improved from previous 07 minutes to 05 minutes on average.

It is seen that inspections of all the police stations of Lahore by the concerned senior police officers remained 100 %. The analysis of the performance of Lahore Police during the RPOs (Regional Police Officer) Conference showed positive marking of Lahore police for the first time which was negative for the last few months and that is an acknowledgement of improvement in the overall performance of different units of the capital city Police. In a statement, CCPO has also lauded the performance of all divisional SSP of the Investigation and Operations Wing as well as SP Dolphin (Dr Rashid Hidayat) and SP Mobiles Squads for their untiring efforts to improve the overall performance of Lahore Police last month. Also, he directed all divisional SSPs to further enhance their capabilities and performance to encourage this positive ranking of the police department through better service delivery, citizens-centric policing, and control over crimes. We can consider this a step (whether it is small or a huge one) towards the good old days when there was peace everywhere in Lahore and Pakistan. For few years, the crime rate was constantly increasing, and rarely could we hear something good on media about our police department. But it is time that we should all appreciate the efforts of police for maintaining peace & law and order.  

Pakistan has potential for every single thing that happens in the world. May it be technology, skills, sports, techniques, and innovative ideas; the Almighty Allah has given us everything. Due to this race of money, in which everybody is involved, we have forgotten to appreciate something good about our own people and departments. Due to continuous negative news about police, we have developed our thinking about them. But the time has arrived that we should again rise, shine, and stand with our law enforcement agencies, police, and army to get rid of crime, corruption, and terrorism. The police are doing a great job but it is the need of the hour that the police department should be given and provided with maximum facilities, bonuses, and respect so that our country can again become a happy and prosperous place to live.

The Writer is a Senior Social Analyst & Chairman Pakistan Columnist Council. Can be found at figure786@hotmail.com.