ISLAMABAD: In what could be termed as an extreme case of political involvement in the police affairs, the interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, on Monday, asked the police departments of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to treat the twin cities as ‘single entity’, for operational purposes and to improve their coordination to provide better security to the residents of the two cities.

Chairing a joint high-level meeting of senior officials of Rawalpindi and Islamabad police, the minister said that Islamabad and Rawalpindi police should be treated as one force, not only in countering the terrorism, but also in eradicating major crimes.

Despite the fact that Rawalpindi police is a part of the Punjab police, which reports to the Punjab home department, they were represented, by the local officer of Rawalpindi police, at the meeting.

The legal experts say that the move was no illegal, as the interior ministry might have obtained the consent of the Punjab home department over the issue.

“If the Punjab home department has authorised its police to cooperate with the federal government, or the Islamabad police, then the idea of joint working cannot be termed as ‘illegal’,” said Athar Minallah, a legal expert, “We have seen the federal interior minister chairing a meeting of the police department in Sindh.”

The meeting, chaired by the minister, was not attended by any representative of the home department of Punjab.

The Punjab police was, however, represented by the regional police officer (RPO) Rawalpindi and the capital police officer (CPO) Rawalpindi.

The federal capital was represented by the inspector general (IG) of Islamabad police, assistant IG operation Islamabad, and other senior officials, but there was no representation of the interior ministry, other than the minister himself. The chief commission of Islamabad was also not invited to the meeting.

Chaudhry Nisar directed that, “Joint patrolling by the police force of the two cities should be ensured in contiguous areas, under the watchful eye of senior officers, in both cities,” and added that Rawalpindi and Islamabad police may share their crime data with each other, to facilitate the investigation of crimes.

The minister stressed that the coordination, taking place between the police of the two cities, should be reflected on ground, adding that it’s the responsibility of the senior officers to monitor the joint patrolling at all hours, especially at night and early morning.

He also suggested that, to enhance the coordination among the two different police forces, joint mock exercises should be conducted by the police of the two cities, to enable the police forces to perform better in future.

However, the move also highlighted the role of political interference in the police affairs, and it was contrary to the relations between Rawalpindi police and Islamabad police, during the past five years.

On several occasions, during the previous government’s tenure, including the massive demonstrations against the gas load shedding, held at Islamabad highway, and also those against the blasphemous film, the Punjab police openly supported the demonstrators.