LAHORE, June 29: A letter from President Gen Pervez Musharraf has stirred the provincial authorities to move towards constitution of public safety commissions for Punjab, Lahore, Okara and Sargodha.

The letter, inquiring about the status of implementation of the Police Order 2002, was written to Governor Khalid Maqbool, who, in turn, asked the provincial government to submit to him a report in this regard, official sources informed Dawn here on Sunday.

Following the letter, the Punjab home department started working on the constitution of public safety commissions.

Safety commissions have already been constituted in other districts of the province, but they have failed to deliver the goods so far.

The sources said that police, enjoying an independent status under the law, had not reported on the matter so far despite being sent a copy of the letter from governor.

They said MPAs had already been nominated for the bodies by the government and their selection would start in a day or two.

The Lahore High Court chief justice too has agreed to select members of the safety commissions, and the process would start after advertisement in newspapers seeking applications, they said.

The sources said that after constituting the public safety commissions, the provincial government would move towards the creation of a provincial complaint authority, citizens-police liaison committees and district crime control committees.

They said all committees and commissions were aimed at creating a liaison between the police and people. The government was forced to constitute them under pressure from the donor agencies funding the devolution plan, they added. “The law needs improvement, but the donor agencies are linking the release of more funds to its implementation.”

They said Punjab was ahead of other provinces in implementing the police order despite reservations.

There is no public safety commission in the NWFP, and even the federal government has not yet constituted the national public safety commission. The process of implementation is 50 per cent complete in Sindh and Balochistan, sources said.