ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: President Pervez Musharraf on Monday appreciated the performance of the Motorway Police stating that the force is contributing vitally to bringing discipline into the nation and urged other police organizations to emulate their efficient service to the people.

“The performance of the Motorway Police is creditable and comparable to any police force in the developed countries — the quality of anyone in service is the urge to improve, therefore, I expect that all police organizations in uniform also show the spirit to perform better,” he said at the award ceremony of National Highways and Motorway Police.

The president said, the performance of the Motorway police is the result of their integrity, courtesy to the people and maintenance of traffic discipline.

He referred to the importance of traffic order in the maintenance of discipline in a nation and said the Motorway police are really contributing to bringing about the much-needed discipline into the nation.

Gen Musharraf said, the introduction of the system of awards from 25 per cent of the total fines amount collected by the Motorway police through ticketing has paid dividends in the form of efficient and honest services by the force.

He called for introducing a similar system in all police organizations as additional money supplements their salaries when government cannot increase their emoluments.

The president expressed the confidence that the extension of the force to Highways Police on N-5 (the GT Road) will further improve the traffic and bring about discipline on the highways. He noted with appreciation that the highway police is being extended to other parts by March 2003.

He lauded that the Motorway police are helping out as many as 625 motorists a day and have helped bring about a 68 per cent decline in the rate of accidents.

Gen Musharraf noted that people have also cooperated with the Motorway police, emphasizing that the masses accept the right of checking by only honest and upright officers.

The president said, it is heartening to learn about the examples of integrity of the Motorway police and announced Rs100,000 each for patrol officers Mohammad Yousuf and Noor Muhammad, who having rescued a person after an accident, returned the cash and valuables worth Rs11 million to the owner in hospital.

He also appreciated the fact that the National Accountability Bureau has declared the Motorway police as a corruption-free department and credited its officers for this achievement.

“This is all the more creditable as personnel drawn from the same police force who are commented adversely on, performed so well.”

This happened due to better training, better working environment, better salaries and better command and control.

“Therefore, we can say that the menace of corruption in our society is not incurable, it can be cured, we need to find reasons for this.”

He said, the reasons required for curing corruption and for honest performance include monetary incentives which give a reasonable living, and financial security in the old age.

He referred to the substantial increase in the salaries of government servants by his government and said this was done after a research carried out by a team of CBR experts. The research showed that financial insecurity was the 75 per cent cause of corruption in government departments.

The president also referred to the promulgation of Police Ordinance 2002 and said it aims at serving the people of Pakistan and fits our environment and not the environment of the colonial era.

He said forensic laboratories will be set up in Islamabad and four provincial capitals to reach the culprits and raise the quality of investigation.

He said, the establishment of Public Safety Commission and the induction of qualified officers through a merit-based selection, the quality of police service will improve.—APP