05 June 2004	Saturday	16 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

LAHORE, June 4: Changes approved by the president in the Police Order 2002 to maintain its basic spirit of making police independent of political interference are being reviewed.

This was disclosed by senior officials in the provincial government here on Friday. They said the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) had not issued the minutes of the meeting during which the president had approved the amendments.

The changes in the law were to be sent to the provinces for consent before amending the law. The officials said some meetings had been held in Islamabad for the purpose but their proceedings were secret.

According to the decision taken by the president, the provincial chief ministers and the district Nazims would control police. Elected representatives were also given representation on district safety commissions while the idea of a provincial safety commission was dropped.

The officials said the police were still struggling to remain independent of the political control and that was why the NRB had not yet sent the proposed amendments to the law to provinces for consent.