LAHORE, Aug 24: The Punjab government is reportedly constituting self-financed citizen-police liaison committees in the absence of national and provincial public safety commissions whose consultation is necessary for committees’ formation.

“This is against the Police Order 2002, but the province is going to constitute them under the federal government pressure to bring about reforms in police by Sept 30,” official sources told Dawn on Sunday.

According to the Police Order, the government may establish citizen-police liaison committees as voluntary, self-financing and autonomous bodies, in consultation with the National Public Safety Commission or the provincial Public Safety Commission, as the case may be. But so far neither the national nor the provincial safety commission had been notified.

Officials claimed that the process for the provincial safety commission had already been completed and it would be notified in near future. Nevertheless, they confirmed that the citizen-police liaison committees could not be constituted in the absence of the bodies whose consultation was necessary for their (the committees) existence.

The sources said the federal government was pressing for the constitution of these committees while citing the example of Sindh where they were formed in the absence of safety commissions.

The functions of the committees included training and capacity building of public safety commissions, developing a mechanism for liaison between aggrieved citizens and the police for providing relief and assistance to public safety commissions, police complaints authority and the police for the expeditious and judicious discharge of their duties.