On 6 December 2013, UMT School of Law and Policy [SLP] hosted a talk on Police Order, 2002 and its implementation in the country. Mr. Salman Choudhry [LL.M. (Hamburg), LL.M. (Rotterdam), EMLE (Rotterdam); Deputy Inspector General, Punjab Police] was invited to speak and provide his expertise on the topic. The participants mostly comprised of students, law professors, and lawyers.
As a starting point, Mr. Choudhry briefly outlined the role of the police force with emphasis on Article 4 of Police Order 2002, which elaborates the same. He, then, presented the statistics of the police department in Punjab and mentioned how much fund was allocated to each department before discussing the Order in detail.
Moving on to the focal point of the talk, Mr. Choudhry stated the historical background that led up to the eventual passing of the Order and mentioned why this piece of legislation was necessary keeping in mind the existing outdated framework, the mismanagement, the lack of accountability etc., at police force level. In order to elucidate further, Mr. Choudhry spoke about how a lot of effort was put in to 'pushing' the government to reform the set-up. In his words, "sanity prevailed" during Musharraf's rule and Police Order 2002 was passed. He believes that while this new law is an improvement on the old one, its lack of implementation causes major problems. The distinctive features of the Order such as greater civilian oversight, setting up of safety commissions and the fostering of a healthy relationship between civilians and the police all suffer as a result of the legislation's lack of implementation.
To ensure that the participant's remained interested in the discussion, Mr. Choudhry presented a comparative analysis of the legislation governing the police force in India and Bangladesh with respect to Pakistan. He mentioned that the legislation governing the police force in both states, namely India and Bangladesh, was based on or drafted in accordance with the Police Order in Pakistan. This is ironic when one considers the fact that the Order has not been implemented in Pakistan.
To sum up his presentation for the day, Mr. Choudhry touched upon the problems faced by the Order such as a weak civil society, the lack of oversight by the parliament, the provincial governments and other political actors including political parties. Mr. Choudhry mentioned that these problems specifically those relating to oversight need to be addressed.
A Q&A session followed the presentation. In the end, Syed Imad-ud-Din Asad [LL.M. (Harvard); Advocate, High Court; Founding Director and Associate Professor, SLP] thanked Mr. Choudhry for taking out time to share his views and expertise on the matter.
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