LAHORE: The Kahna police station of Lahore has registered in 2022 more than 10,000 first information reports (FIRs) and counting -- the figure is higher than average crime rate in 18 high-crime districts out of total 40 in the province.

According to a comparison of the official crime statistics with Kahna police station, this year the Hafizabad district reported total crime 8,601 [FIRs], Mandi Bahauddin (7,661), Layyah (6,914), Rajanpur (8,968), DG Khan (8,750), Pakpattan (9,553), Lodhran (7,834), Chiniot (6,855), Jhang (8,387), Toba Tek Singh (7,949), Mianwali (6,848), Khushab (3,990), Bhakkar (5,562), Chakwal (3,629), Jhelum (5,060), Attock (5,561), Narowal (6,614) and Nankana Sahib’s registered crime was 7,427 FIRs.

The number of FIRs and their handling in a single police station leaves a trail of questions: whether human, administrative and financial allocation is lopsided.

If one station house officer (SHO) can handle that scale of crime single-handedly, why have more than two officers from the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) and elaborate paraphernalia of dozens of officials in each of the districts?

Eight city police stations need bifurcation due to high crime prevalence

The cases crossed the mark of 10,000 on Dec 24 when the Kahna police station registered an FIR under the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2022 on the complaint of a citizen Mohammad Khalid.

The police station [Kahna] was largely headed by an SHO of BS-14 ranked sub-inspector and in some cases an inspector (BS-16).

On the other hand, the district is headed by a BS-18 official as district police officer (DPO).

As most of the districts are allotted to the PSPs, the police officers from the provincial service used to raise the issue with the relevant quarters to end ‘discrimination’ by streamlining their promotions so that they could also grab an opportunity to lead the force on higher posts.

An official says the comparison of the crime figures is an example as to how the PSP cadre has been raised in the province ‘irrationally’ to capture many top slots against perks and privileges which can easily be manned by their relatively junior officers from the ranks.

He says the [crime] data [somehow] supports the assertion of a section of the police community which has been asking the high command to redefine the role of the rankers and the PSPs while allocating the top slots in Punjab.

Talking about analysis and the dominance of the PSPs on the Punjab police’s most slots, the official says a DSP ranked officer can better run the police functions as head of a small district adding less additional burden on the national exchequer as compared to a PSP who performs the same duties against hefty packages, including a luxury car, residence, office, POL facilities, government employees etc.

He says many police stations of the provincial capital have become tough areas to manage ‘humanly’ due to the scale of the reported crime.

Like, Kahna is one of the eight police stations of Lahore which was referred as a ‘study case’ by the senior command of the Lahore police to the Punjab government back in 2018 for bifurcation.

The official says the police department has been giving reasons that it has become humanly impossible to handle the rising crime trend in the police stations marked by it due to their respective jurisdictions, growing population, commercial activities and other reasons.

As far as Kahna police station is concerned, the department had proposed to divide it into three police stations and the case had been pending with the Punjab home department since then.

Some officers are of the view that the division in at least eight police stations of the city has become a matter of urgency as is evident from the registered FIRs.

These are: Nishtar Colony 7,965 [FIRs], Factory Area (7,658), Shahdara (7,471), Chuhng (7,263), Raiwind City (7,023), Nawab Town (6,600), Baghbanpura (6,498) and Sabzazar (5,184).

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2022