LAHORE: Newly-appointed Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani has said that maintaining law and order in the province, ensuring prompt redressal of public complaints and implementation of uniform rule of law will be among his top priorities.

Upon his arrival at the Central Police Office (CPO) on Wednesday, a well-armed police squad extended salutations to Ghani while other senior officers including AIGs and DIGs posted in the CPO welcomed him.

Talking to the media on the occasion, the IG said no "political" or administrative pressure would be tolerated in ensuring the rule of law and action would be taken on merit. He said the mission of public service and safety would be continued under the best working relationship with all the field officers including CCPO Lahore Umer Sheikh so that the police could provide all possible protection and service delivery to the people.

While chairing his maiden meeting with all the senior command at the CPO, Inam Ghani issued important instructions to the officers regarding his policy, priorities and performance on professional matters. Prominent among the participants of the meeting were AIG PHP Zafar Iqbal Awan, AIG IAB Azhar Hameed Khokhar, AIG Training Shahid Hanif, AIG R&D Ghulam Rasool Zahid, AIG Establishment BA Nasir, AIG Safe City Rao Sardar, DIG Legal Jawad Ahmed Dogar, AIG Logistics and Procurement Ali Amir Malik, AIG Operations Zulfiqar Hameed, AIG CTD Muhammad Tahir Rai and DIG Zaeem Iqbal Sheikh.

The IG said that all the Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) posted in the CPO and the command officers posted in regions and districts will have to play their effective role in the best possible way.

"I will make sure that transfers and postings are solely made on the basis of performance and good reputation," he added. He further added a zero tolerance policy would be adopted in cases of harassment and corruption and AIG IAB Azhar Hameed Khokhar would be fully independent to take suo moto actions in such cases as well as complete the inquiry and punish those responsible.

He declared that corruption, abuse of power, killings and torture in police custody at any level in administrative and professional matters would not be acceptable. "By making an ethical change in the behavior of the police force and transforming it into a public friendly force is an important part of my policy. In this regard, along with making the recruitment policy more effective, further upgrading the training system and transfers, postings and promotion of merit observance will be ensured in all cases," he added.

The IG further said that besides speeding up the free registration of FIRs, special attention would be given to improve the quality of investigation so that the society could be made crime free.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020