LAHORE, Oct 31: All district Nazims in the Punjab are now meeting President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on Thursday (today) to demand powers to control police if the government wants them to take control of law and order.

During their first ever meeting with the new Punjab governor on Tuesday, they had among other things cited the same demand after they were asked to be pro-active in controlling law and order particularly violence during anti-America rallies in their respective districts.

According to official sources, the most troublesome factor for the district Nazims has been the attitude of police whom they considered necessary to control if the government wanted them to effectively keep an eye on law and order especially in view of the prevalent conditions in the country.

They said police reported to have been simply ignoring the Nazims, making them helpless whenever they were required to perform as representatives of the government in districts under the devolution plan.

Around 13 major departments have been put under the control of the Nazims including the most important education, health and housing, but police remained independent, they said.

The sources said the only redeeming factor for the Nazims in the recent past was president’s decision to make police answerable to them through their district coordination officers (DCOs). This was also agreed to by the National Reconstruction Bureau which had master-minded the devolution plan, and the provinces.

But, they said, the recent moves made by the police high-ups had delayed the implementation of the decision by the president.

How they were blocking the move was that they would be answerable to district Nazims only in the case of general law and order and would remain independent in the spheres of investigation, prosecution and postings and transfers.

The most interesting thing was, the sources said, that they had suggested to follow the orders of the Nazims in the maintenance of general law and order provided these were not “mala fide”. “This is the area which is pinching the Nazims the most and they are going to talk to the president specifically on it,” they said.

They said the first three spheres in which police wanted to remain independent, especially investigation, was also a matter of concern for many Nazims. Their pleas had been that police were a party in the investigation of cases and they must be put under the control of some state representatives to protect citizens against any likely injustice and to create a balance. Many Nazims were educated and were aware of the devolution of power instances in other countries.