ABBOTTABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani said on Friday that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government had given free hand to the police force, which was yielding good results. He said that law and order situation was improving day by day as police had been free from political influence.

Mr Ghani was speaking at the prize distribution ceremony held at the Police Intelligence School here. He said that efforts were being made for improving the professional skills of the police officers and staff for which different kinds of schools and training centers had been established. He claimed that highly qualified and experienced people were imparting training to the personnel, which included the improvement of their investigation skills to combat terrorism.

He said that shortage of police had been overcome and claimed that recruitment was being done on merit. He said that the provincial government had given powers to the inspector general of police to utilise all available resources for the improvement of professional skills of police force.

The minister said that the provincial government had allocated Rs1 billion for the improvement of police while salaries and other benefits were also increased. He said that the ratio of cases concerning police excesses had dropped to almost zero. He claimed that the IGP was clearing the department from black sheep. He said that they had ended the culture of favoritism and nobody was allowed to interfere in the police affairs.

Mr Ghani said the PTI government had introduced reforms to improve working of three departments, including education, police and lower judiciary.

He claimed that soon the people would see the real difference between the police of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces. Certificates were distributed among 28 officers of the provincial police who attended the three-day special course.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2014