ISLAMABAD, July 18: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Friday set Sept 30, 2003, deadline for complete implementation of police reforms in the country, and asked the provincial governments not to transfer or post any policemen on the request of any public representative.

Presiding over a meeting, convened to review law and order situation in the country, the prime minister told the provincial governments not to allow politicians to manipulate police, and no transfer and posting should be made on the demand of public representatives.

The meeting reviewed the Quetta incident in which over 50 people were massacred at a mosque by terrorists and expressed satisfaction at the performance of police in identifying the culprits. It was decided not to disclose the name of the organisation involved in the terrorist act, for the time being, as it might lead to complications.

An insider, however, told Dawn that all clues point the finger to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi group.

The meeting reviewed the ongoing operation in the border areas of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan against anti-social elements. The prime minister approved a grant of Rs600 million for strengthening of the police system in the border areas of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab, where law-enforcement agencies have come under attack of criminals recently and a gas pipeline was also blown up by these elements.

The prime minister asked Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab governments to continue operation against criminals.

The prime minister said that the people of these areas were feeling relieved after the start of the operation against criminals and they were fully cooperating with the law-enforcement agencies.

Mr Jamali directed the provincial governments to establish public safety commissions and other institutions in the provincial headquarters as was required under the police reforms.

The prime minister said the federal government would continue to support the process of police reforms by providing promised financial grants till year 2011.

He said the federal government had already disbursed Rs3 billion among the provinces in this regard out of a total grant of Rs14 billion which would be disbursed in 10 years.

An official announcement said that the prime minister asked the provincial governments’ representatives to ensure a free hand to police.

“Political expediency should not be a hurdle to the work of the law-enforcement agencies and there should be no consideration or concession for anyone,” the prime minister told the meeting.

He said the country had been subjected to a sinister conspiracy by terrorists who he said wanted to retard the process of economic growth and development. “The whole nation has to join hands to foil their designs and we shall make an example of all these criminals and terrorists to ensure that they do not raise their evil heads again,” he declared.

The prime minister said that the government was determined to combat and eradicate terrorism in all its forms.

“We must rise to the occasion and secure the future of our people by putting up sustained and determined fight against terrorists,” the prime minister said.

Mr Jamali praised the efforts of the Pakistan Army, the Corps Commander of Quetta and the CMH for controlling the situation after the Quetta mosque massacre.

The prime minister said there were visible improvement in the law and order situation in the area but “we should remain on guard and vigilant and should not be complacent at any stage.”

The prime minister said that nobody should be allowed to use mosques and Madaris for terrorist activities.

The meeting underlined the need for better coordination between intelligence gathering and law-enforcement agencies to achieve desired results.

The prime minister asked provinces to ensure proper execution and utilisation of development funds on the projects under the Public Sector Development Programme.

“We have allocated huge funds for the PSDP and they could only be useful if the execution of the projects is properly monitored and 100 per cent utilisation of funds is ensured,” the prime minister told the meeting.

He asked the provincial governments to establish monitoring committees to evaluate the progress on the projects and utilisation of funds at regular intervals.

The prime minister asked the provincial governors to monitor functioning of federal department offices situated in the provinces.

He said it was not easy for the federal government to monitor these offices as effectively as the representatives of federal government (the Governors) could do by sitting in the provincial headquarters.