KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the Sindh police was one of the best forces in the world as they fought against terrorists, target killers and extortionists bravely. “Restoring peace in the province was not an easy task; it claimed the lives of our police, Rangers and Pak Army personnel. I salute the martyrs and pay tribute to the families of martyrs,” said CM Murad while addressing the 40th batch of passing out parade of police at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Elite Police Training Center on Thursday. The CM said that the morale of Sindh police was down when the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government had taken over in 2008. “The reasons behind low morale was targeted killing of policemen who had participated in operation clean-up in Karachi,” said the CM. “Their salary structure was lower than the police force of other provinces, there was no solid compensation system in place for martyrs and the families of martyrs had no government patronage,” he recounted. CM Murad said that said the provincial government had adopted a holistic approach to address the issue. Murad Ali Shah said that recruitments in police department were purely made on merit from that point onwards. “We designed the best training courses for the capacity building of police, enhanced their salary structure and made it as par with the salaries of police in other provinces, enhanced compensation for martyrs, improved their health and educational services and then equipped them with best arms and ammunition. “Today our police force is the best in Pakistan and could be compared with any police force in the world,” he declared. “Sindh police is best in the world in the sense that it has fought bravely against terrorist, target killers, extortionists in the city and 2200 of them embraced martyrdom in the line of duty,” he said. “I salute them and their families,” he added. “We have not left the families of martyrs alone but are giving them salaries and paying them compensation regularly,” he shared during his speech. The CM hoped that the batch of 760 policemen, including 148 female officers, who were passing out would be a great addition to the provincial police force. “I have witnessed the abilities this batch has demonstrated in their passing out programme. They are superb and well trained and I am sure they would deliver in the field,” he said. “This training centre was established during the 90’s and so far it has produced a force of 50,000 policemen,” he said. Moreover, CM Murad promised to make the training centre even better by equipping it with required facilities including an auditorium. He also said that he would consider the proposal of establishing a Police Cadet College. Shah further said that he was favourably considering the proposal of upgradation of constables from grade basic pay scale (BPS)-5 to 7, head constables from BPS B-7 to 9 and assistant sub-inspectors (ASI) from grade B-7 to 11. The passing out batch demonstrated their training skills and abilities to curb crime and handle sensitive situations. They presented a ‘guard of honour’ upon his arrival at the training centre. The chief minister distributed certificates, medals and awards to the position holders of the training course. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Kaleem Imam, Training Center Commandant Tanveer Odho also spoke on the occasion. The ceremony was attended by additional IG Dr Aftab Pathan, and relevant police officers. Published in Daily Times, October 19th 2018.