District police to run Elite Force
RAWALPINDI, July 18: The Punjab government has decided to give the Elite Force under administrative control of the district police, Dawn has learnt on Monday.
At present, the Punjab Inspector General of Police is running the administration of the Elite Force and the operational matters were being looked after by the district police.
They said the decision had been taken after the tragic murder of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer by his guard Mumtaz Qadri in Islamabad.
The restriction of district police to operational matters created problems for their chief as at times elite force personnel were found guilty of insubordination to him.
On some occasions, they didn’t obey the orders of the district police chiefs and followed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), the sources said.
Due to administrative problems, some district police chiefs of the province wrote to the Punjab IGP and requested to review the working of Elite Force.
After this, the matter was brought into the notice of the Punjab Chief Minister who decided to hand over the administrative control of the force to the district police.
Additional Inspector General of Elite Force Chaudhry Tanveer said before the decision was taken the force was run by the headquarters under the SOP.
The AIG said: “If the working of the force is to be improved, the power to award punishment and rewards to the force personnel should be under the same command.”
He said that the basic aim behind this decision was to improve its working and coordination with other law enforcement agencies.
He said the Punjab police had been facing problems in implementing the operational orders as sometimes the Elite Force received dual instructions which created confusion.
However, the budget and training of the Elite Force would be centralized as there would be no change in the previous set up.
Meanwhile, nearly 205 Elite Force commandoes have been inducted in the force stationed in Rawalpindi district raising the number of Elite Force personnel to 450, including 10 women commandoes.
(Daily Dawn)
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