Islamabad’s population has been growing rapidly in recent years, and so have been the policing needs of the burgeoning city. Three new police stations have been established this year alone, taking the total number of police stations in the city of nearly 1.5 million inhabitants to 22.

But the expansion in providing protection to the people has been as haphazard as the expansion of the city where the federal administration first allowed ‘illegal’ slums to grow and then bulldozed one of them two weeks ago because of security concerns.

No wonder, a number of police stations and offices have the same ‘illegal’ status as they sit on green belts or occupy abandoned or rented buildings in residential areas.

It was a great surprise to learn that despite its mantra of building security and infrastructure, the federal government had little or no funds to build and equip new police stations. Islamabad police officials claim they had to draw on their own departmental welfare funds to set up the Noon and Shams Colony police stations.

Khanna and Kural police stations occupy green belts and face eviction – not because of the illegality of the occupation but because the Islamabad Expressway is being expanded and they come in the way. Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials say the expansion work on the Kural-Faizabad section of the Expressway would begin next year.

“We are aware of the impending threat but have time to think it over,” said a senior police officer.

Police find the land suggested by the CDA for shifting the threatened stations not suitable.

“We cannot move far away from the present locations and the only spaces available in the vicinity are again on the green belt,” he added.

In fact, previously the two stations were police posts which had to be upgraded because of rapid urbanization around them which increased the demand for protection, particularly for the VIP movement on the Islamabad Expressway.

Officially, the government has to provide land and funds for the construction of police stations and offices. But the government notifies the establishment of a police station without fulfilling these prerequisites, according to capital police sources.

Legal space for police stations is such a big problem that the Banigala police station operates from the precinct of the Shahzad Town police station and Lohi Bher, Shams Colony and Nilor police stations operate from makeshift buildings.

All these police stations look after rural areas of Islamabad and also accommodate the associate offices of the Superintendent of Police Rural Zone and Sub-Divisional Police Officers.

Indeed, the Noon police station was built on land provided by a villager and with the policemen’s welfare fund.

Construction of new police buildings or extension in the existing ones takes between six months and one year. So far neither any such decision has been nor funds arranged for the makeshift Banigala, Noon, Shams Colony and Nilor police stations.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2015

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