Look after us and we’ll look after you, Zardari tells police

Karachi
Pakistan Peoples Party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari vowed on Monday to further strengthen the Sindh police force so that terrorism could be thwarted and also paid tributes to the cops who had fallen in the line of duty.
Speaking as the chief guest at the 25th passing-out parade of the counter-terrorism force commandos and other policemen at the Razzaqabad training centre, the former president of Pakistan also congratulated the army for the successful completion of a year of its operation, Zarb-e-Azb, against terrorists and lauded the sacrifices rendered by soldiers to rid the country of the menace of terrorism.
“We will continue to equip and strengthen the Sindh police, enabling them to eliminate the prevailing menace of terrorism and protect our future generations,” he said.
“We will encourage the police force, provide incentives and financially secure the families of martyred police officers,” he added.
Zardari said the children of police officers and constables who had fallen in the line of duty were like his own children.
“I will not leave them alone to spend lives as if they were living in an orphanage,” he resolved.
He directed the provincial government to provide appointment letters to the children in advance so that when they grew up, they could be hired on the positions their martyred parents held.
He also instructed the government to bear their education cost. The PPP co-chairman instructed provincial police chief Ghulam Hyder Jamali to provide the same incentives to cops as were being given to their counterparts in other provinces and other forces.
He also directed the IGP to prepare a comprehensive plan for the provision of the residential and education facilities and job opportunities to retired policemen and the children of martyred cops.
He assured the police chief that the provincial government would fully support the force in the implementation of the plan.
He also instructed the IGP to construct flats at available land within the premises of police stations to provide safe and secure residential facilities to cops.
The former president pointed out that the enemies were well-equipped and therefore, there was a need for equipping police with latest training, advanced weapons, gadgets, armoured personnel carriers, bulletproof vehicles, vests etc.
He directed the provincial government to meet these requirements of the police force at the earliest.
He praised the Sindh police force’s efforts in reducing the crime rate, particularly killings in Karachi, and also gave credit to Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and the IGP for this achievement.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said the creation of the elite police force was an innovative idea by the PPP co-chairman to fight against terrorism successfully
He said army instructors were training police and advanced weapons and gadgets had also been provided to the force to help it combat terrorism.
“We have reserved over Rs10 billion in the next budget to buy more equipments, bulletproof vehicles and arms and ammunition for police and also approached the federal government to provide financial assistance for this purpose,” he said.
He noted that the Sindh police had demonstrated their skills by arresting the perpetrators of the Safoora Goth bus attack within three days and also nabbing the terrorists involved in the Shikarpur bomb blast.
The IGP, while addressing the passing-out parade, said the presence of the PPP co-chairman at the event reflected his policy and sprit to encourage the police force for the eradication of terrorism and other crimes.
He pointed out that between July 2014 and June 2015, police killed 215 terrorists and 659 criminals were injured in encounters.
During this period, 106 cops fell in the line of duty.
The IGP said police had managed to substantially reduce target killings and kidnappings for ransom had completely stopped.
Maqsood Ahmed, the commandant of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Elite Police Training Centre Razzakabad, in his welcome address said 2,083 cops had completed their training in the passing-out batch.
Of them, 1,000 would report to counter-terrorism department, 300 to the Muhafiz Force, 250 to the RRF, 222 to the SSU and 254 to their parent units from across the province.
He said 57 probationary ASIs had also completed their training and were part of the passing-out batch. He added that the training centre had trained 35,000 cops so far.
Also accompanying Zardari and the chief minister to inspect the parade was home minister Sohail Anwar Siyal.
Later, the participants of the passing-out parade demonstrated their counter-terrorism skills. The former president then presented awards to cops on account of their performances during training.