Maryam Nawaz approved Punjab Police’s ‘Riot Management Police’ proposal

CT Newsroom

Punjab Police requested the Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz requested to establish a new ‘Riot Management Police (RMP)’ for violent protests.

As per details, on Friday Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz approved to establish Riot Management Police (RMP). The summery was moved by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Usman Anwar. The 30-page draft was prepared and briefed by DIG Athar Waheed.

RMP will consist of 5000 personnel. They will trained to handle large crowds and violent protests. The personnel will be specially trained in ‘non-lethal interventions imparted with psychological training, and have trained dogs to disperse crowds.

The approved summary proposes advanced non-lethal crowd control tools such as tear gas, sound cannons, rubber bullets, electric shock shields and surveillance, improved communication systems, bullet-proof vehicles for the additional IG and the DIG RMP Punjab along with the 650 other vehicles, including armored anti-riot trucks, water cannons, heavy cranes, loader trucks, armored ambulances and other specialised vehicles equipped with tracking systems.

The riot management task force will be constituted under the Right to Peaceful Protest Act of 2024.

The task force is headed by a police officer, not below the rank of DIG, and assisted by a superintendent of police (SP).

The headquarter will be in Lahore and will have eight regional offices and each regional office will be headed by SP.

The initial RMP would be made operational in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, and Sargodha, and gradually extended its scope to other major districts of Punjab.

According to the sources, the RMP would be among the few police forces in the country, who will authorised to recommend punishments for damage to public and private properties by protesters.

Attackers and organisers of violent agitations would have to pay compensation for the damage to the state and the citizens,” the source added.

It is worth mentioning here that the Punjab police proposed the scheme in the backdrop of 9 May 2023 incidents, which witnessed the damage of public and private properties as well as injuries to law enforcement personnel. The 30-page draft of the proposed RMP was prepared by Lahore Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) DIG Athar Waheed, he added.