CCPO Lahore proposes military style court-martial for police

The Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Muhammad Umar Sheikh on Thursday moved an application to IGP Punjab for the lawmaking of military style 'court-martial’ for the provincial police.

As per the letter to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Punjab Inam Ghani, The CCPO asked to introduce military style court-martial for police to maintain better discipline.

He wrote, there are a lot of complaints about police’s misbehaviour, abuse of power and bad discipline and current punishments aren’t strict enough to keep the order in the house.

Under the current system, the expelled officers get them reinstated through civil courts or services tribunals. They should not be welcomed in the force, CCPO urged.

He wrote that court martial is the need on an hour, to provide fare justice to the society. Accountability is necessary to improve efficiency in the police department.

Back in September, The CCPO hinted at revamping police in the city following motorway incident. He said the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) should have a system of court martial to punish those officers who were found guilty of abuse of power or negligence in their duties on the same pattern the court martial was practiced in the armed forces of Pakistan to maintain discipline and efficiency in the forces.

"In my opinion, the introduction of court martial in police is the key-to keep the house in order as far as this force is concerned," he told the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights presided over by Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.