ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: Interior Minister, Lt-Gen (retd) Moinuddin Haider said extremism, sectarianism and crimes could be controlled by providing the police with training and modern equipment.

The minister said this on Thursday while speaking at a seminar on “Emergency preparedness and disasters management and the role of emergency services” held at the Police Training Centre, Sihala.

The seminar was followed by a book-launching ceremony. The book entitled First Medical Aid and Disasters Management has been written by Dr Rizwan Naseer and jointly published by World Health Organization (WHO) and Ministry of Health.

Ex-chairman of senate, Waseem Sajjad, representative of WHO to Pakistan, Dr Baila Muhammad, senior police officials including Inspector General Punjab Police, Malik Asif Hayat and Inspector General Capital Police, were also present.

The minister said the people should cooperate with the police to eliminate crime from society. “All of us should work for peace and development instead of wasting our energies on petty disputes,” he said.

“We must follow the Quaid’s principles of Unity, Faith and Discipline for creating a civilized society to cope with future emergencies,” he remarked. He said that some national institutions were being restructured in order to increase their efficiency.

“Motivation is required to activate such sick institution in order to better serve the country,” the minister pledged.

He informed the participants of the seminar that the government was working on reform agenda to end lethargy from society.

He appreciated the training centre’s role and said the police would be able to serve the people better if they were trained in providing first aid etc.

Later, talking to newsmen, the minister said that groundwork for the formation of the public safety commission was almost completed.

Answering a question about the forthcoming general elections, he said it would be according to the road map announced by the federal government.

Regarding the police reforms, he said PC-1 was complete and would be presented to ECNEC soon. Planning Commission had already approved the PC-1.

The federal government has provided Rs1.9 billion for the restructuring and reorganization of the police department and some international institutions have also made commitments for providing forensic laboratories and telecommunication system.—APP