Police Reforms in Punjab for Effective Counter Terrorism: A Preliminary Assessment

Abstract

The paper endeavors to make sense of the role of Punjab Police as a counter-terrorism force and in counter-terrorism in Pakistan. The paper critically examines the claim that as per law, Police holds the legal mandate for conducting counter terrorism. The objectives of the study are: to understand the existing structural and legal role of Punjab Police in countering terrorism and to work out policy recommendations for the improvements of the efficiency of Punjab Police. The hypotheses that was worked out for this study was: the structural and legal reforms of police may improve the efficiency of police in counter terrorism. Key research questions addressed were: what is the role of Police in countering terrorism? what kind of reforms are required for efficient Policing? And how effective reforms can be introduced to counter terrorism? In-depth interviews were conducted to seek answer to these questions. At the end, using Kurt Lewin’s three steps Organizational change model, the paper argued that Punjab police needs structural reforms before it can become a more efficient force capable of conducting counter terrorism activities. Keywords: Punjab Police, Counter terrorism, Kurt Lewin organizational change model, Pakistan