By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Inspector General of Police Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar has said that respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed in Constitution of Pakistan is at center of policing practices by Islamabad police.
He was speaking as chief guest at a capacity -building workshop jointly organized by Parliamentarians commission for human rights (PCHR) and Peace and Justice Network in collaboration with Islamabad Police at the Police Lines Headquarters. The purpose of the workshop was to strengthen the capacity of Islamabad Police on institutionalizing the reporting and recording mechanism of crimes against journalists.
Police personnel especially Moharras were participants of the workshop. As part of the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda, the training focused on increasing the reporting capacity of the duty bearers on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 16.10.1.)
As per vision of Prime Minister of Pakistan, IGP Islamabad said that police is progressing towards institutionalizing enhanced procedures that protect all sections of society. Islamabad police chief said that media is very important segment of society while police and media would have to work closely to combat crime and eradicate the social evils from the society.
Islamabad police acknowledges the important role of journalists in representing the people and therefore attaches high importance to their safety and protection, he added. He asked the policemen to resolve the issues of journalists on priority basis and adopt decent attitude with all segments of the society.
Police department is paid salaries from the tax money of the public and it is the duty of the force to ensure protection to the lives and property of the citizens.
Speaking at the occasion, Executive Director PCHR Muhammad Shafique Chaudhry reiterated that, “Under Pakistan’s Constitutional Obligations, International Human rights commitments and our national development framework, it is our collective responsibility to work towards achieving SDG 16.10 and ensure access to information, press freedom and safety of Journalist.”
Under this program, he said that PCHR and PJN are seeking to establish integrated reporting mechanism in police department and other relevant government departments to collect authenticated data for appropriate policy reforms and parliamentary discourse on these issues. He also appreciated the continued support of federal government particularly IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan and thanked UNESCO for their support during the program.
CEO Peace and Justice Network Raza Ali shared the overall objectives of this program and previous progress. He explained the reporting template in detail and dilated upon different fields of template. To meet the requirement of SDG16.10.1, we need to have verified data about all categories of journalists and media workers, he opined.
Senior Police officials from all relevant police stations also attended the workshop. The IGP Islamabad distributed certificates among the participants of the workshop and hoped that such sessions would be held in future to promote relation between media and police.
