Daily Times

Centre for Law and National Security (CLNS) in collaboration with the Islamabad Capital Territory Police (ICT Police) organized a consultative session on police training policy at Police National Academy H-11/1, Islamabad.

The discussion focused on the new training policy formed by ICT Police that intends to enhance the skills of young officers and provide capacity building exercises to improve the state of policing system in Pakistan. The consultative session served as the basis for providing concrete policy recommendations on police training to strengthen the efficacy of ICT Police.

Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad Police Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman attended the special consultative session as chief guest. The guest panel comprised of intellectuals, lawyers, former judges, academics, members of civil society and Police officers. The panel included, DIG Islamabad Police Kamran Adil, Justice (R) Ali Nawaz Chowhan, Honorary Chairman of Legal Forum for Oppressed voices of Kashmir, Jawad Hussain Aadil, Civil Judge, Rizwan Abbasi, Advocate, Supreme Court, Syed Muhammad Tayyab, Deputy Attorney General, Executive Director CLNS Rehman Azhar, Shoaib Shaheen, Advocate Supreme Court, Sheikh Waqas Bin Aamir, Advocate High Court and Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq Chairman Advisory Board CLNS and Founder & CEO of The Millennium Universal College Pakistan.

Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chowhan complimented CLNS and ICT Police on initiating the consultative session on police training policy. Justice Chowhan also presented his research paper to the DIG Kamran Adil which enlisted detailed recommendations on how to improve the quality of policing in Pakistan.

Rehman Azhar, Executive Director of CLNS, congratulated the ICT police for engaging policy makers, intellectuals and academics in this session. He highlighted the importance of policy documentation and trainings in building a strong and efficient police force. He suggested that the goals and objectives of the police training policy should be further specialized to provide specific training to police officers. He further said, the police must concentrate on focus groups in identifying key deficiencies and follow best international practices of policing to resolve them.

Civil Judge Jawad Hussain Adil asserted that a lack of technical education in the police can be detrimental to efficient and just policing. He recommended the ICT police to add courses in the police training that specifically train young officers on the proper procedures that need to be followed while prosecuting perpetrators in a court of law.

Rizwan Abbasi, Advocate Supreme Court identified lack of professionalism and independence of police as the key issues that need to be resolved in police training.

Sheikh Waqas bin Aamir, Advocate High Court, referred to lack of transparency and politicization of the police force as major issues that obstruct the course of justice. Shoaib Shaheen, Advocate Supreme Court, said open dialogues like these are welcoming and they are important confidence building measures. He talked about the importance of depoliticizing the police forces.

The closing remarks were made by Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq Chairman Advisory Board CLNS and Kamran Adil DIG Islamabad Police. Faisal Mushtaq congratulated Islamabad Police on initiating the consultative session. He emphasized that the role of conferences like these is to build confidence between the ICT police and the citizens it serves. He said, the role of such conferences is to address the gaps that exist in making and implementing policy. He identified professional development and capacity building as important measures that can be taken to improve policing services in the country.

DIG Kamran Adil said the challenge for the police force is to continue to move forward with the commitment of improving the life of its citizens. He emphasized on how a sustainable relationship of the police with its citizens is the only way forward. He said, the ICT police will continue to engage civil society and its citizens and dialogues like these must continue to take place.