ISLAMABAD: The row between bureaucracy and Islamabad police over the implementation of Police Order 2002 in Islamabad has delayed disbursement of post-retirement benefits to several police officers and some of them have approached Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking redress of their grievances.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nazar Qureshi and others have filed a petition in the IHC after the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) denied them pension and commutation since their claims were approved by the inspector general of police (IGP) Islamabad.

Under the Police Order, the IGP is the competent authority to accord such approvals. However, the bureaucracy in the interior ministry thinks otherwise and for them the Police Order has not yet been implemented in the capital.

This was the reason that the interior ministry challenged a decision of the IHC that had directed the government to promulgate the Police Order in Islamabad in 2021.

In the case of Mr Qureshi, AGPR refused to process his claims saying that the secretary interior was the competent authority to accord the approval.

His petition in the IHC was taken up by Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz on Friday. A police representative informed the judge that since the Police Order had been promulgated in Islamabad, the competent authority was the IGP, which had already approved the claims of Mr Qureshi and others. The court adjourned further hearing till the next week.

Meanwhile, Director Law of Islamabad Police Tahir Kazim submitted a compliance report to IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani who had directed the government to promulgate the Police Order in the capital.

The report states: “In pursuance of directions…this [IG] office has already moved requests for issuance of notification to the Ministry of Interior…but no reply has been received yet.”

It stated that “National Police Bureau Islamabad vide its letter dated Feb 6, 2022 conveyed to the Ministry of Interior that it had been decided in a meeting held on Feb 4, 2022 that Police Order 2002 shall be implemented in Islamabad.”

The report said the law ministry had opined that the Police Order “come into force on the date the local government Islamabad assumed office.” The report added that Islamabad Police had been re-organised in accordance with the Police Order. The salient features of the “Reorganization of ICT Police” included “establishment of investigation units under Article 8 of the Police Order”.

The new units are for sexual offences investigation, homicide investigation, robbery/dacoity, anti-vehicle lifting, gender, juvenile and vulnerable person protection, gender protection, anti-blasphemy, court compliance, legal expert and criminal record.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2024