RAWALPINDI: The twin cities police have agreed to institutionalise co-ordination between the two departments through regular meetings and decided to adopt a joint plan of action in the fight against terrorism and criminal elements.

It has been decided to set up joint checkpoints, conduct joint operations based on intelligence, and take combined action against terrorists and criminal groups.

The decisions were taken at a special meeting held between the Inspector General of Police Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan and Regional Police Officer (RPO) Rawalpindi Nasir Mehmood Sati here in the RPO office on Tuesday.

Counter Terrorism Department’s Regional Officer Attaur Rehman, City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari were also present in the meeting.

The Islamabad police chief said in a statement that joint meetings of police forces will continue on a monthly basis as all the forces of the country are united to end terrorism.

Regional Police Officer Rawalpindi Nasir Mehmood Sati said that mutual cooperation and exchange of information will be ensured for the safety of people’s life and property. The twin cities police have been using all possible resources against anti-social elements to maintain peace, said the RPO.

A similar effort to institutionalise co-operation between the twin cities police through regular meetings to address “trust deficit” in handling the law and order issues had been made in May 2021 by the then IGP Islamabad Qazi Jameelur Rehman and RPO Rawalpindi Imran Ahmar.

They had made a pledge to be on the same page to combat criminals and decided to conduct joint operations and also pointed out that there were no check posts from Sihala to Tarnol.

Previously, it has also been decided to hold monthly meetings between the twin cities police’s SPs and DSPs, followed by a meeting with the DIG and CPO after two months and finally a top-level meeting with the IGP.

Published in Dawn, january 4th, 2023