LAHORE: The Punjab government has approved the establishment of a dedicated Internal Affairs Wing to monitor the conduct and operational performance of the authority’s officers and field staff across the province aimed at strengthening accountability and restoring public confidence in the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (PERA).
The decision was taken on the directions of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz after mounting complaints regarding corruption, abuse of authority and administrative irregularities within the newly established enforcement body, officials told Daily Jang.
The Internal Affairs Wing, effectively an intelligence and vigilance arm of PERA, will be headquartered in Lahore and is expected to become fully operational within the next two months. Around 200 officers will be recruited on a contractual basis for deployment at the headquarters as well as in all 36 districts of Punjab.
Senior officials said the provincial government had decided to induct experienced personnel with backgrounds in Military Intelligence, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau, Special Branch, Customs Intelligence and other security and law enforcement institutions in order to establish a robust internal accountability structure within PERA.
The move marks a major shift in the monitoring mechanism of the authority. Until now, the performance and efficiency of PERA officials in the field had largely been overseen by deputy commissioners in their respective districts. However, the provincial administration concluded that the growing operational scope of PERA required an independent and specialised oversight framework capable of directly investigating complaints, monitoring enforcement activities and identifying misuse of powers by officials.
According to sources, the chief minister expressed serious concern after receiving repeated reports about misconduct by enforcement staff operating in different districts. Officials said a substantial number of complaints were linked to personnel from the Punjab Police who had been serving in PERA on deputation since the authority’s inception.
Sources revealed that approximately 4,000 officers and personnel of Punjab Police had been posted to PERA on deputation to support the authority during its initial operational phase. However, around 400 officials have already been surrendered back to the police department after allegations of corruption, misuse of authority and other irregularities surfaced against them.
The government is now planning to gradually replace deputation based staffing with PERA’s own permanent enforcement cadre. Officials said the authority would soon initiate large scale recruitment for its independent workforce, which would subsequently undergo specialised professional training tailored to regulatory enforcement and administrative compliance operations.
Until the completion of PERA’s own recruitment process, the Punjab Police chief has assured the authority of continued institutional support through the provision of freshly recruited police personnel to maintain operational continuity.
Director General PERA Capt (retd) Farrukh Ateeq said the authority was simultaneously introducing multiple technology-based oversight mechanisms to enhance transparency and operational monitoring.
