PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pervez Khattak, presided over the second meeting of the select committee on KP Police Bill 2016 that proposed the separation of the forensic lab and the establishment of a separate independent forensic lab authority that would be independent and free from any influence. The moment the authority is established it will work independently. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, leader of the opposition, MPAs from both the treasury and opposition benches and all the government functionaries related to the police Act 2016. They had a threadbare discussion and made a number of decisions to bring amendments to the proposed draft. The meeting decided the mode of posting of the inspector general of police under which, in the absence of the relevant provision for the short listing of probables and finalising and short listing the three probables, the federation will send the whole list wherein the chief minister will pick one amongst the suitables for onward posting as IGP in the province. Regarding other amendments, the chief minister formed a committee comprising representations from the government, the opposition and other stakeholders of the Police Bill 2016. The chief minister directed, “The committee will find out a solution to the provincial posts, the creation of posts and maintain the ratio of the provincial employees including their vertical mobility”. The chief minister in his remarks said that the present method of FIR had a number of weaknesses that warranted fine tuning making it transparent and removing the apprehensions of certain quarters that it promotes crime instead of crime fighting. The chief minister and the participants agreed to strengthen the three layers of the safety commission as the check and balance mechanism on the force. Pervez Khattak said: “laws are formed for the whole people and it should never be on a whimsical decision”. “Power and authority always carry the element of responsibility and the present bill should encompass all the legalities, spelling out clearly the use of power and the subsequent action on the misuse of power”. He agreed that the government should have the power and authority to inquire on abuse of power and the subsequent action. He said the law should be uniform and for all the people without any discrimination. Reforms in the FIR are necessary for efficient delivery. There should be enough evidence for the arrest so that the cases could be proved in the courts that require responsibility and responsiveness, he added. He said: “We want to stop the lengthening shadow of injustices in the society and the government wanted legislations in this regard”. His government took the opposition on board in the whole process of all legislations. He added that there should be monitoring teams and oversight committees to have a check on the Thana Culture. The chief minister on the recommendations of the participants agreed to make the Thana Head responsible for any weaknesses in the FIR.