Punjab Police: Is the class difference between PSP and Ranker officers a hindrance to performance?

In recent days there have been several incidents of police custody killings and misconduct of citizens from different cities of Punjab, raising questions on all promises and claims of police reform.

According to retired police officers, the current situation in the country’s largest province by population and the reason for the deaths of the accused in police custody was one of the reasons between the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers and rancor officers. Lack of professional relationships.

According to observers, there are defects in Pakistan’s current police system which have led to the creation of two classes of police, namely, elite class PSP and middle class rancor.

In Pakistan, the process of recruitment is different from Constable to Sub Inspector while joining the Police Service Group requires passing the CSS exam.

On the contrary, in the developed countries of the world, including the UK, there is only one method of recruiting the police, and there are people recruiting constables and reaching the rank of chief constable.

Former Punjab Police SSP Chaudhry Salman says that it is unlikely that a rancor officer stationed in a police station would be charged with the Assistant Superintendent of Police (if any illegal activity was committed or if an accused was killed during the interrogation). ASP), a PSP officer, may not be aware of this.

Speaking to the BBC, he said that while he was stationed at various police stations during the service, his Circle SP had left his staff in the police station to report on the operations in the police station. Used to inform the ASP about matters.

Chaudhry Salman, who is also a Rinker cadre himself, said that five people were killed in different incidents of violence in different police stations in Islamabad and in one of the cases registered, No PSP officer was nominated, but in these cases, the named ranchers remained in jails for four to five years and were later released on bail after the deceased’s inheritance was settled.

Chaudhry Salman said that according to his experience there is a sense of superiority among the PSP officers, which makes them contemptuous of listening to a rancor’s suggestion to control crime while on the contrary, several PSPs. Officers do their property business with the help of these rankers, and in this regard they do not appear to be more honest than these rankers.

He said that if a rancor performs well, then the credit goes to the PSP officers. But if he does something wrong with his fingers pointing at the PSP officer, he immediately leaves the ranker who has done illegal things for his officer.

He said that PSP officers do not have much policing experience and 90 percent of crime in Pakistan is seen by non-PSP officers while dealing with people, including constable to Inspector rank policemen. Join.

According to Chaudhry Salman, whether the police ordinance was in 2002 or the process of reforming the police, no consultation with the rankers has been made in this matter nor any opinion has been sought.

According to former Islamabad police SSP Raja Nasir Nawaz, the attitude of PSP officers with rancor officers is the biggest obstacle to a better professional relationship between these two classes.

He said that there were several instances in which PSP officers misbehaved with their subordinates which the rank officer did not tolerate, and they attacked the PSP officers, ignoring the job and the police officers there. Rescued.

He said that a case of death of four persons was registered against the ranchers by the elite force personnel in Sahiwal while the case was not registered against the SP, which ordered these policemen to do so. The riders were chasing after.

The Punjab government had taken only action against the PSP officer in the case that Additional IG Roy Tahir was removed from his post for some time and then he was reinstated.

He said that if a ranker rose to the rank of SP, his subordinate ASP would not recognize him as his officer.

Nasir Nawaz said that although ASP did not say this with his tongue, his behavior showed that he did not recognize a ranker as his boss.

There are 36 districts of Punjab province, out of which 34 police service group officers have been appointed as District Police Officers (DPOs) in 34 districts while rankers have been deployed in only three districts. They include Faisal Gulzar, DPO of Bhakkar, Amir Timur of Bahawalpur and Nasir Sial, DPO of Mandi Bahauddin.

There is not a single non-PSP officer in the Punjab Police who has been posted as Regional Police Officer (RPO). Akhtar Lalika, a non-PSP officer for the last time three years ago, was posted as RPO in the Rawalpindi Range.

Akhtar Lalika was deployed as an RPO when Shiite Sunni riots broke out in Rawalpindi during the Ashura procession that killed at least 10 people.

Curfew was imposed in some areas of Rawalpindi and troops were summoned to control the situation. In such cases, no PSP officer was willing to be appointed.

But former IGI opinion of the Punjab Police, Altaf, dismisses the impression that the professional relationship between PSP and Rankers is inadequate.

He says that as much as the responsibility of the peacekeepers falls on the ranks, so does the PSP officers, and if the PSP officer does not behave well with his subordinate rankers, then he will do so. Don’t expect anything to do with keeping peace.

Altaf agrees that the officer up to the Inspector rank in the police knows more police than any PSP officer.

Reza Khan, who has been posted as Deputy Inspector General (DIG), said that for the development of SP and above rank in police rolls, PSP and non-PSP have a growth rate of 60 percent and 40%.

Raza Khan, who is also a non-PSP officer himself, said that a conspiracy was not allowed to come forward by the police.

It should be noted that in 1988, when communal riots were on the rise in Punjab province, the law of out-of-turn promotion was introduced in the Punjab Police, with the aim of rewarding the policemen who prevented these communal riots. Next rank was to promote.

This law continued until 2006 and during this period 21 inspectors were promoted to the rank of DSP. This was unpleasant to PSP officers who challenged the move in the courts.