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QUETTA: The government of Balochistan will introduce in the provincial assembly on Saturday a police act which will give more powers to the administration and district magistrates.
Sources said the draft of the Balochistan Police Act 2011 was based on Police Act of 1861. If approved by the assembly, the act will replace the Police Order 2002.
The proposed act transfers the powers of postings and transfers of senior police officers to the provincial government from the Inspector General of Police.
The sources said the powers of the provincial police officer (PPO) under the Police Order 2002 would be exercised by the home secretary who would make postings and transfers on recommendations of the chief minister and the services and general administration department.
Under the new act, the post of district police officer (DPO) will be abolished and that of superintendent of police (SP) restored and he would work under the supervision of district magistrates. The government has already restored the posts of commissioner and deputy commissioner in Balochistan.
A senior official told Dawn that the Balochistan government wanted to revive the Police Act of 1861 as had been done in Sindh.
The Levies force, which was merged with police under the Police Order 2002, has already been restored in Balochistan.
The federal government had spent about Rs8 billion to merge Levies into police in all 30 districts of the province. Now police have been restricted to only five per cent of the province and the rest are under the Levies.
