ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khan Khosa Monday said the state should safeguard the basic rights of the citizens and if the basic rights were not enforced, the existence of state became difficult. The Chief Justice expressed these views while addressing at the National Police Academy.
He said the Law and Justice Commission was working on police reforms and he hoped that Gulzar Saeed would keep this candle light. He said that December 16 had some lessons for the state as it reminded the country of two tragedies including the fall of Dhaka and the Army Public School (APS) massacre. Both these tragic events had some lessons for the country, he added. The Chief Justice said that APS tragedy shook the whole country and led the nation to look into the approaches that were being used by the state. APS massacre was the incident that realised enough is enough and the massacre also led to the formulation of National Action Plan against terrorism, he added.
The Chief Justice said if the state started asserting itself too much then people breakaway from the social contract. He said that there was a need for the country to once again look for the areas that unite the country and work on those areas.
The top judge told the police officers that this was what they had to teach to the under training officers. He said that time had come to rethink the approach of the police. The police should be perceived as a protector, he added. He said that it was the responsibility of the police to protect the lives and property of the people and to provide them security. Unfortunately there were some incidents in which the role of the police was not seen, he added. The CJP also spoke about the reforms required to change the police and the reforms undertaken by the police reforms committee and said “we have to make our police ideal.