News
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Despite limited scope, uprooting terrorism top priority of KP IG* Nasir Durrani says government forces should not work with a risk factor
* Stresses need for amending laws to allow police to chase criminals into PATA, FATA
By Iqbal Khattak
PESHAWAR: The new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police chief, Nasir Durrani, does not have much knowledge of his station where a bloody militancy is raging on for the last many years. However, he knows that unless the command and control system is re-modified, order is difficult to restore.
The grey-haired Durrani took charge two days after the horrific suicide attack on a church in Peshawar killed more than 80 people, including women and children.
Then he was told of a government staff bus bombing in Charsadda district on Friday, while left at least 18 dead.
“Terrorism is the top-most priority,” Nasir said while talking to reporters on Saturday, sharing his list of priorities he had set during the last four days in office.
During this little time in office, he reached a conclusion: “without uniformity in command and control system, terrorism will be hard to fight back”. A recent surge in kidnapping incidents was instrumental in reaching the conclusion.
“The target area is a settled one, while the launching area is in the tribal region. When we chase these attackers and criminals, they cross into the Tribal Areas where my people are not permitted to go in,” the new KP inspector general made a point, appearing at unease over leading a force into an area where there is no uniformity in the command and control system.
For a police chief in KP, he needs to coordinate with more than one command and control system to chase criminals or terrorists. The police there operate in settled areas of the province. They cannot work in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) – such as Malakand – and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where the command and control system is not unified.
He went on to say, “When you are chasing criminals and they slip into PATA or FATA, the jurisdiction of KP Police ends.”
Nasir, without any hesitation, added, “We need to think about this. We need to look into this. It will take us nowhere.” He was talking about multiple systems of command and control in the region grappling with terrorism.
What the new KP inspector general pointed out was the same thing that all previous police chiefs complained about, adding that a few Peshawar police chiefs even chased criminals and terrorists into FATA without following the exact course of the law.
“I cannot take the risk... government forces should not work with the risk factor,” he told Daily Times after the formal interaction with the media.
But his mind is clear on one thing – that there is a need for an amendment in laws, allowing police to chase criminals and terrorists into PATA and FATA to bring uniformity to the command and control system if order is to be restored.
He was also concerned about the increasing cases of kidnapping for ransom in Peshawar, and looked red-faced when a journalist brought to his notice some police officers’ alleged patronage to kidnappers.
“I will have a ‘no-sparing policy’ on criminals in police,” he said, admitting that some elements in the police department were involved in criminal activities. Putting his force in order is also included in Nasir’s to-do list, as the IG clearly spells out his policy for officers with suspicion of having political affiliations. “I am assured by the KP government that it will not interfere in the command and control system of the police,” he said.
“Interferences dilute authority,” said Nasir, who seems unlikely to accept that his authority was diluted.
“A nominee will not be posted as an SHO (station house officer),” he warned. “Such (police officers) are munshi of their masters, and do not consider themselves accountable to public.”
Nasir also believed in traditional conflict-resolution institutions like jirgas, and advocated that ‘restorative justice’ be followed in KP. “We remain focused on resolving the effects of a conflict instead resolving the conflict,” he argued, adding that punishing someone under the law for one crime or another did not mean that the conflict between the two parties is over.
On Friday, he dashed into the site where a powerful bomb ripped through a bus carrying government employees back home in Charsadda district, becoming the first KP Police chief to take such a huge risk. Some – unaware of the fact that a force commander should not be exposed to danger – applauded the step.
Hardening potential targets is what the new KP inspector general is going to work on in order to minimise the impact of any attack, and a new strategy in this regard seems to be coming into effect in collaboration with the public.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk