Rule of Law

In December 2013, the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) launched a Rule of Law awareness and advocacy programme together with the GIZ – the German Agency for International Cooperation.

The provinces of Sindh and the Punjab are the target regions for this landmark undertaking.

In Sindh, the GIZ-CRSS cooperation, the Capacity Development of Sindh Police (CDSP) project, aims at supporting the Sindh Police in professionalizing their services vis-a-vis the citizenship, to the judiciary and the government. The pressing challenges that the police face in a mega-city such as Karachi or in areas like rural Sindh provide the context for this project.

The objectives of the project are: support improvement of the public image of the Sindh Police; create demand for professional police services among the general public; explain and advocate the need for revision of the Police laws of 1861; influence the public, legislators, stakeholders, including the police itself, judiciary, prosecution, media, ‘watchdog organisations’ and the civil society; create mass awareness for a change and improvement of existing working and structure of the police service; promote the need and demand for a professional and effectively and efficiently working police force for Sindh; and strengthen the ties and trust between the citizen and the police.

In the Punjab, the GIZ-CRSS cooperation, Support to the Punjab Prosecution Service (SPPS) project, aims at supporting the capacity and organisational development of the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (PCPS) to build an independent, efficient and effective prosecution service for the Punjab. It grew out of the realization that the public at large must know its rights and responsibilities as envisaged in the Constitution.

As the general public is often unaware of the PCPS being a separate and autarkic institution from the police service as well as the attorney and advocate general’s office, it is essential to disseminate knowledge on the existence of this institution as much as possible.

Only by empowering the citizens with legal knowledge can the rule of law be established, and its abuse prevented. The SPPS project, therefore, will highlight the advantages and importance of an independently working prosecution service for the Punjab to the general public; mobilize stakeholders, in particular media and civil society, support the development of an effective and efficient prosecution service; inform stakeholders and create mass awareness about important and relevant issues surrounding the prosecution service.

 

Dunya TV,
Nuqta-e-Nazar, Guest Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami talking on Punjab Prosecution Service, Feb 27’ 2014