Daily Times

LAHORE: American Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs William R Brownfield met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday and assured all out cooperation for the training and capacity-building of Punjab Police.

He appreciated the vision of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif with regard to reforms in police and said that cooperation of any kind desired by the chief minister would be extended for the training and capacity building of police.

He said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Shahbaz, unprecedented measures had been taken with the help of information technology for improving the overall efficiency of Punjab Police.

He said that he had visited more than 90 police headquarters in the world but the standard of work at headquarters of Punjab Police was the highest. Improvement in the policing system with the help of information technology was highly laudable, he added.

He said that efficiency of Punjab Police was much better than that of other provinces of Pakistan, adding that he was happy that Punjab Police had been given a new face with the help of information technology.

He said that America would provide all out technical assistance for training of police on modern lines as well as with regard to high security prisons.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on the occasion said that a lot of work was done during last three and a half years for controlling terrorism, extremism and energy crisis. He said that Pakistani nation was determined to win the war against terrorism and armed forces, police and common citizens had rendered supreme sacrifices in fight against terrorism.

He said that a number of projects were being completed expeditiously to overcome energy crisis, assuring that load shedding would be eliminated within next one and a half years. Shahbaz said that the first counter-terrorism force in the country had been formed by the Punjab government for controlling terrorism while Dolphin Force was also working to combat crimes.

He said that the Punjab government had evolved the biggest Safe City Project of South Asia, which after Lahore would be extended to six other cities of Punjab. The chief minister said that revolutionary reforms for the uplift of education, health and other social sectors had yielded positive results.

He said that transparency was the hallmark of Punjab government and technical cooperation of America in the training of police at Elite Police Training School and high security prisons would be welcomed. He said that the Punjab government had provided all out resources to police for coming up to the expectations of the people.

American Consul General Yuriy Fedkiw, Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Special Assistant Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Inspector General Police Mushtaq Shukhera and concerned officials were present on the occasion.