LAHORE, Sept 12: Staying noncommittal when the Police Order, 2002, will be implemented in letter and spirit, senior officials in the Punjab say the process to fulfil the federal government demand has begun.

Under pressure from the Asian Development Bank, the donor in case of police reforms, the centre has given Sept 30 as cut-off date to the provinces to implement the order.

According to sources, the process regarding the implementation of the order in areas specified by the federal government has been started. The areas so far fully implemented in the Punjab are the administrative and financial powers of the IGP for which police has been pressing hard.

The province has already started constituting vital safety commissions, the self-financed citizens-police liaison committees, and the criminal justice coordination committee. Nevertheless, none of them have so far been notified.

The government has also sent a draft bill to the cabinet for approval regarding the creation of a separate prosecution service but it is not known when this will be taken for a decision.

Officials confirmed that it will take a long time to actually put the service in order. “We are making allout efforts to meet the deadline but there may be some procedural delays,” they said.

So far as the separation of the watch and ward functions of the police are concerned, this has been done only to the extent of Lahore and officials also linked it to the initiation of the process, referring to the appointment of SP investigations in some districts as a step towards the implementation of the law.

NRB Consultant on Police Reforms Dr Z U Khan had on Tuesday hinted at giving concessions to the provinces regarding the deadline in areas where implementation of the law was time consuming. — Intikhab Hanif