July 26, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 22, 1429

PESHAWAR, July 25: The NWFP inspector-general of police (IGP) has said that due to the ongoing war on terror, stress was affecting the performance and behaviour of policemen in the province.

The provincial police chief, along with experts, was speaking at a one-day workshop on stress management held at the Malik Saad Shaheed police lines Peshawar on Friday. It was jointly organised by the psychology department of the University of Peshawar and the NWFP police department.

Experts and officials discussed identification of causes and kinds of stress in the police department on the occasion. They discussed stress-reduction strategies and programme to develop stress-resistant personality and overcome stresses. A total 26 officials of DSP and inspector ranks from across the province participated in the workshop.

IGP Malik Naveed Khan said that policing was a stressful occupation but the stress being faced by the Frontier police currently in performing their duty had no precedent in the entire police history of the country. However, he claimed that the moral of the police was high and they were facing the situation in a brave manner.

He revealed that physically and mentally affected policemen would be sent to Saudi Arabia to perform Umra on the department’s expenses, and in this connection the first batch of 44 officials would be sent this year.

Commenting on the international scenario, the IGP told the participants that voluminous police reforms were being introduced in The US and UK after the 9/11 and 7/7 tragic incidents. Police there were not only trained against terrorism on scientific lines but were also fully equipped with the latest weapons and other necessary equipments.

Mr Khan said that after the attacks in the US and UK, acts of terrorism were taking place in Pakistan frequently, but the police resources could not be increased as per requirement due to which the police department was facing numerous problems including ‘stress’ in performing their duties and that was why they were facing lack of tolerance and confidence in police behaviour with the general public.

The IGP, however, said that both the provincial and federal governments were taking practical steps for increasing the resources of the police force and equipping it with latest modern weaponry. He expressed the hope that the results of the steps would become visible soon.

He pointed out that the best cure for stress was its realisation and handling it with some timely tips, which would yield positive changes in the whole force. He said that stress was not being diagnosed medically in the country due to which it was spreading among every stratum.

The police chief urged officers to take easy their service matters and professional obligations by only putting their best efforts and wait for the result. He told the participants that study would be carried out on large scale based on the ‘stress principles’ in collaboration with the psychologists, highly educated people and prominent non-governmental organisations so that the general public and government institutions could be sensitised about the psychological problems amongst the policemen.