Police to remain on high alert to rout out terror :IG Punjab

Lahore: A new and comprehensive plan has been released to ensure security for the foreign nationals, government installations, minorities, and general public in the Punjab province. The police are also directed to remain on high-alert to root out sectarianism and terrorism from the province.

Inspector General of Police Punjab Muhammad Habib-ur-Rehman stated this while presiding over the Provincial Law and Order Meeting held at the CPO today. Additional-IGP Malik Khuda Bukhsh Awan, RPOs and DPOs from all over the province, CCPO Lahore, DIG Operations, and DIG Investigations Lahore were also present on this occasion.

It was decided in the meeting that the lists of 4th schedule should be reorganized and zero tolerance policy must be adopted against the clerics and religious elements involved in promoting sectarianism. It was further decided that such elements should be arrested after registration of cases against them.

The meeting also decided that the police would ensure foolproof security for the foreign nationals and minorities in the province and comprehensive strategy must be implemented in this regard.

It was also decided that the cases of promotion of police officers/officials would be decided purely on merit and in the light of the court directions. The IGP was informed that at least 16 DSPs (legal) have been promoted to the rank of SP, and seven DSPs and other officers are also regularized on merit in the recent past.

The meeting also reviewed the incidents of police encounters, the arrests of Top-10 and Top-20 proclaimed offenders, and the over all crimes situation in the province. So far, 44 police encounters are reported in Rahim Yar Khan, 26 in Faisalabad, and 16 in Vehari in which the most wanted criminals were killed and arrested.

The IGP gave cash awards of Rs 100,000 to DPO Rahim Yar Khan Sohail Zafar Chatha, and Rs 50,000 each to CPO Faisalabad Bilal Siddique Kamyana and DPO Vehari Ali Nasir Rizvi. Similarly, the IGP awarded cash prizes of Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 to CCPO Lahore Aslam Tareen, DIG (Operations) Rai Tahir and DIG (Investigations) Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique who traced the 34-member Kohat gang involved in bank robberies.

The IGP also directed RPO Sheikhupura to send him proposals regarding the shifting of Sheikhupura Police Range from Lahore to Sheikhupura.

On this occasion, the IGP said that the names of RPO Faisalabad Aftab Ahmed Cheema, DPO Vehari Ali Nasir Rizvi, and DPO Sahiwal Rana Ayyaz Saleem have been withdrawn from the training course due to their outstanding performance.

The IGP also directed the police officers to immediately respond to media quires and ensure their availability to the media in case of major happenings.

The meeting also decided to ensure physical fitness of the policemen across the province and the Field Officers were directed to remove the overweight police officers/officials from their operational duties and smart and energetic cops to be deployed for active policing.