PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is considering a number of amendments to the Police Act, 2017, empowering the chief minister in administrative affairs of the force and clipping some powers of the police chief.
“Along with empowering the chief minister in transfers and postings, the draft under consideration includes several amendments regarding the administrative affairs of the force,” a source told The News.
He said the elected leader would also get more say in policymaking as well as accountability of the force under the proposed amendments.
The government is also not happy with the way a police chief of the province is appointed and wants changes in the process for being a provincial subject.
The government, however, argued the proposed amendments will improve the working of the force under an elected government.
“Every decision regarding the proposed Police Act would be taken in the larger interest of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Public interest, transparency, effective policing and parliamentary consultation would be given due consideration while finalising the legislation,” said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Law Aftab Alam after chairing a meeting in this regard.
The minister informed that they were further improving the police act and added that policing is a provincial subject. He said the government was not clipping the powers of police but streamlining the transfer, posting rules and accountability of the force.
The meeting was part of the ongoing consultation process for developing a new legal framework for the police in the province.
The meeting discussed various aspects of the proposed legislation and deliberated on measures aimed at strengthening policing and improving the legal and administrative framework governing the provincial police.
Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hamid, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Tariq Saeed, Advocate General KP Shah Faisal Utmankhel, Provincial Minister Nazir Ahmad Abbasi, Additional IG Muhammad Ali Babakhel, Additional IG Kashif Alam, Additional IG Muhammad Alam Shinwari and DIG Abbas Majeed Marwat, along with other senior police officers, attended the meeting.
Previously, the KP government in 2024 amended the Act and empowered chief minister in posting and transfer of all the officers of grade 18 and above.
The Peshawar High Court later struck down the amendments and the Inspector General of police got back the powers to transfer all the officers, even to the rank of additional IGP. The provincial government has challenged the decision in the Supreme Court.
Currently, the IGP posts all additional IGPs, RPOs, DPOs across the province, though with the consent of the chief minister in most of the cases.
The other day, a provincial minister said he would ask the chief minister to launch an inquiry against the IGP if he submitted a reply to the court without approval of the chief minister.
Many police officers in their informal meetings have termed the proposed draft an agenda-based legislation that would affect the governance system. They argued it would also reverse the police reforms introduced by the first government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa led by Pervez Khattak as chief minister.
A number of amendments were proposed in 2024, after which senior policemen held a meeting with the then chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur and expressed their concerns over the new laws.
A committee was constituted to redraft the amendments that had triggered concerns among the policemen of the province. In 2024, some officers threatened that they would leave the province if the bill was passed.
Many amendments were later approved despite protest by the cops, empowering the chief minister in several affairs
A senior cop said when things are not deliberated upon and stakeholders are not taken on board, agenda-driven legislation destroys governance and systems and the public pays a price for it. He added that a police service politicized and without command and authority would lead to chaos.
Police officials said politicians and bureaucrats were looking for a chance for years to weaken a force that was depoliticized and made independent by the former inspector general of police Nasir Khan Durrani with the support of the PTI founder Imran Khan.
The reforms introduced by Nasir Durrani and his team and backed by the PTI chief were widely lauded by the public for years and were termed one of the major achievements of that government. That included depoliticising the police force.
A senior cop said the Police ACT 2017 was prepared after three years of hard work, taking all stakeholders on board. It was a consensus document and objections of bureaucracy were properly addressed, he added.
