RAWALPINDI: Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sohail Habib Tajik has directed the police to replace G3 battle rifles with submachine guns (SMG).

However, at a later stage the police would have to opt for handguns to fight crimes.

In this regard, the RPO issued directives to City Police Officer Mohammad Ahsan Younas and the district police officers of Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal.

G3 is a long-range weapon with the firing range of 3,700 metres and its rate of fire is 500-600 rounds/minutes. Police believe that it can’t be used to fight crimes and is also difficult to handle and get training on its use.

All police stations have been directed to deposit G3 rifles with their respective district armory. When contacted, the RPO told Dawn that G3 was not suitable for patrolling and use at checkpoints. For urban areas, police needed handguns instead of heavy weapons, he said.

G3 is not suitable for patrolling and use at checkposts, says RPO

“It is a long-range weapon which is used in raids on terrorists and also by snipers,” the RPO said, adding it was also difficult for police to carry the gun in mobile units.

He said SMG was also not suitable for crime fighting and eventually the police would have to turn to handguns.

He said during encounters with criminals it was important for police to arrest those involved in exchange of fire.

He said it had also been decided to conduct four audit inspections of police weapons in one year to ascertain whether all weapons were in order or needed to be replaced or repaired.

The RPO directed the subdivisional police officers to inspect each police station at least once every month.

The DPOs and SSPs operations should inspect each police station in their district at least once every three months.

“The police officers will review security arrangements of the premises and take follow-up action in the light of the informal inspections. The officers shall check the parade state of the staff, cleanliness of the building and appearance of the on-duty staff,” the guideline said.

The police officers were directed to inspect lock-ups and ensure that all inmates were accounted for.

The RPO directed the SPs to check the completion of FIR index form of all cases registered during the last three months and ensure that the required entries were made and references of all relevant registers mentioned in the FIR index form. He also sought monthly reports from SPs containing observations on each of the directives.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2020