PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have asked the government to address the issues delaying the formulation of external accountability mechanisms provided in KP Police Act 2017, officials said.

The formation of public safety and police complaints commissions (PS&PCC) at provincial and district levels and regional complaints authorities (RCA) at divisional level has been in limbo for three years due to litigation at the Peshawar High Court against some minor changes to the law.

Inspector General of Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Sanaullah Abbasi told Dawn that the police department was actively pursuing the activation of external and internal accountability bodies in the wake of the recent Tehkal custodial stripping and torture, which caused a public outcry.

Ask govt to address issues in this respect

He said the laws provided for both external and internal accountability of police and had those bodies were functioning, issues like Tehkal incident would have been investigated and addressed quickly through institutional mechanisms.

Dr Abbasi said besides PS&PCCs and RCAs, the police had also set up complaint offices at district level as internal accountability mechanisms, which would be headed by dedicated SP level officers, while a summary for the posts of SP (complaints) at all districts had been submitted to the provincial government.

He said the police department had also produced a proposal to amend the KP Police Act, 2017, to address the PHC objections over inclusion of judiciary in scrutiny committees for external accountability bodies with provincial government.

The documents available with Dawn show that the police department has proposed to appoint four retired civil servants members of the PS&PCC from a panel on recommendation of the Public Service Commission chairman, while for members from civil society, it had proposed a scrutiny committee headed by the Public Service Commission chairman and an opposition and a treasury MPA as its members.

For the members of RCAs, the draft has proposed a scrutiny committee headed by chairman Public Service Commission and comprising three other members of the commission from other profession including a police officer.

A document shows that the draft proposal was shared with the home department on Dec 21, 2018 but the department did not take up the matter in more than a year and half.

On March 31, 2018, Peshawar High Court Bar Association president Arbab Mohammad Usman had challenged the role of judiciary in scrutiny committees tasked with selecting independent members for provincial, provincial capital and district safety commissions.

He prayed the court to strike down sections 57(2), (3) and (4) of the KP Police Act, 2017, saying the inclusion of judges in these panels violates the principal of the separation of the judiciary and the executive.

Section 57(2) of the Act says the high court’s chief justice will head the scrutiny committee for the selection of independent members of the provincial public safety commission, while Section 57 (3) (4) deals with the selection of independent members of for capital city and district public safety commissions.

It adds that a judge of the PHC will head the scrutiny committee for capital city commission, while the district and sessions judge will do the same at the district level.

The document shows that internal accountability mechanisms provides for the setting up of a separate bureau of internal accountability to be headed by the additional inspector general of police that is to report to the police chief.

The officer will be assisted by AIG (complaints and inquiry) and AIG (human rights) and SSP (complaints) at district level, who will report to the former.

The document shows that the department has moved a case for the creation of dedicated posts of SPs in all districts.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2020