ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry has approached the finance and establishment divisions to upgrade three ranks of the capital police, in order to lift morale and motivate police in the fight against crime and terrorism, ministry officials told Dawn on Tuesday.

A letter addressed to the secretaries of the establishment and finance divisions asked the upgrade the constable, head constable and assistant sub-inspector posts, they said. Upgrading the posts would require Rs419 million to pay salaries after approval.

The letter stated that the Islamabad police had proposed the up-gradation of the posts using the example of the Punjab Police. An Islamabad police constable’s current basic pay scale is 5, a head constable’s is 7 and an ASI’s is 9 – it was requested that they be upgraded to 7, 9 and 11 respectively.

The letter stated that the up-gradation of various posts “have been carried out by the federal government as well as provincial governments”, and capital police were performing duties to maintain law and order, provide security to VVIPs and VIPs, foreign dignitaries and court judges around the clock.

The deployment of officers and officials for the security of vital government installations and city buildings is also the police’s responsibility, the letter said, adding that in such a situation, motivating the police force and providing incentives to officials of the force would be a key element in improving their performance in fighting crime and terrorism.

The letter said Rs419.6 million per year would be required to meet expenditures following the up-gradation of posts.

The Establishment Division’s regulation wing was requested to approve the up-gradation of the aforementioned posts. The letter said the capital police currently employs 7,579 constables, 1,423 head constables and 1,079 ASIs.

The Finance Division is requested in the letter to provide the supplementary grant of Rs419.6 for the 10,081 posts.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2016