Justice Qazi Faez Isa, a senior supreme court judge, observed while hearing a case that perhaps even a 5th grader could have done better investigation than the work done by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Police department.
These remarks were made by Justice Isa while hearing the bail application of murder accused Amjad Parvez in a two-member bench along with Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
He was visibly displeased by the performance of the KP Police and pointed out several weaknesses and loopholes in their investigation.
Justice Faez Isa sarcastically remarked that maybe KP Police should learn ethics from TV by watching crime shows and serials.
It is worth mentioning that the KP Police is generally considered to be better than that of their counterparts in other provinces, owing to its professional culture and organization. This was often described by police officers and civil servants posted in the province from other parts of Pakistan.
Ever since PTI’s government was elected in KP in 2013, several legislations have been made to empower the police department and to restrict the involvement of politicians and other exogenous forces from jeopardising legal matters. These reforms further raised the prestige of KP Police amongst the police provinces across the country.
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Arms smuggling case
In a court hearing on Wednesday too, Justice Faez Isa had rebuked KP police in an arms smuggling case where the accused was in jail for more than two months despite the law dictating that the challan had to be submitted within the time span of 14-days.
KP Police had recovered several pistols, bullets, and other arms from Mr. Rehman, however, even after failure in the submission of challan form, the accused was kept in jail.
Justice Isa directed the Chief Secretory Dr. Kazim Niaz, the Home Department, the Provincial Government Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Advocate General KP to submit a report within a month on the matter of why they failed to submit the challan within 14 days.
Read more: Justice Faez Isa’s case exposes the biasness of Pakistan’s higher courts
He also warned if the report is not completed and submitted within a month, it will be considered a matter of contempt of court by the KP government and its departments.
However, the other perspective from the Police Department of KP is not available in the local newspapers or any other public matter to clarify as to why such negligence is recently happening within the Police Department.
The crime reporting in Pakistan is already very weak, with very little information available from sources, and must be strengthened.
Earlier in June, the newly posted IGP Moazzam Jah Ansari had addressed the shortcomings of the Police Department of KP and had vowed to bring reforms to make it exemplary for the world. Under late Nasir Durrani who remained IGP from 2013 till 2018, KP Police had seen lot of stability of tenure. It can be referred as its golden period. However since 2018 elections, KP police has seen repeated reshuffles at the top. Moazzam Jah is perhaps the fourth IGP holding office since the elections.
He ensured that the department would work as a team and would ensure that the innocent get their rights at the right time.
Read more: Pakistan desperately needs Police reforms