Nasir Durrani set to reform Punjab Police 

PESHAWAR: After refusing a number of offers in the last almost two years, former Inspector General of Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Nasir Khan Durrani has finally accepted the challenge to assist Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government in reforming the Punjab Police.

Sources close to Nasir Khan Durrani told The News that he has agreed to undertake the new task as hinted by the Prime Minister in his maiden address to the nation. "Nasir Durrani has agreed to reform the police like he did in KP," the source told The News.

Imran Khan in his address to the nation gave full credit to Nasir Durrani for reforming the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and making it the best among the police forces in the country. He said Nasir Durrani would be asked to help the government reform the Punjab Police on the pattern of KP.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have emerged to be the best among the provincial forces for not only bravely facing the terrorists and suicide bombers but also introducing institutional reforms.

Earlier, soon after his retirement in March 2017, Nasir Durrrani was asked to head the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission. However, he declined the job saying he wants to go back to his family in Lahore.

His name was also considered first for the caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and later for caretaker chief minister Punjab, but he politely refused both the offers. He cited health reasons for not taking up these offers.

Now the former police chief of KP is being given the task to reform the police in his native Punjab. While heading the KP Police for almost three and a half years, Nasir Durrani had introduced ruthless in-house accountability by dismissing around 800 policemen, up to the rank of SPs, and awarding other kind of punishments to over 6,000 others. These actions reduced the corruption within the force to a large extent.

Besides, he set up the police assistance lines in all the districts, the police access service. He also set up six specialised schools, formed a special combat unit of specialised commandos on the pattern of Special Services Group of army, reformed the Counter Terrorism Department and Elite Force and introduced technology- based investigation like geo-tagging and others.

The six specialised schools are providing special training to policemen for handling explosives, information technology, traffic management, tactics, anti-riots techniques and improved intelligence and investigation. The model reporting rooms and the female desks have helped introduce public-friendly policing at police stations.

The rivals of Nasir Durrani in the bureaucracy and other sectors and even within the police force termed his reforms as mere bubble that they claimed will burst once he leaves the force. Others criticised the steps as cosmetic. Some of those considered close to Imran Khan created hurdles in the affairs of KP Police under Nasir Durrani.

However, the tributes paid by prime minister in his first address to the nation proved all of the critics wrong. Many PTI leaders and workers have openly admitted that police reforms were one of the major achievements of the PTI government in KP which helped them win the elections in the country and it was all made possible by Nasir Durrani. Imran Khan too acknowledged this fact.