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Annexures 135merger of PSC and Complaints Authority was a huge blow to the original scheme. He said the unnecessary amendmentsmade to the Order be done away with and provisions of the original scheme may also be reconsidered by competentpeople; should not be left to the discretion of bureaucratic machinery. Public control of police is a must and we couldlook for options other than the tried ones.Mukhtar Ahmed Ali also raised his concerns about bringing District Judge and Police officials on the sameforum of Criminal Justice Coordination Committee as envisaged under the Order. To him the District Judge holdingmeetings with District Jail Superintendent, District Coordination Officer and District Police Officer and discussingissues which may also come up in the court for resolution, could be problematic. According to him there might arisesituations involving conflict of interest. Mr. Khosa thought otherwise; in his mind since the District and SessionsJudge is envisaged as the top man of the criminal justice system, so he is in the best position to monitor the criminaljustice system, all others, including the DPO, DCO etc, in the coordination committee are subservient to him. So hethought there should be no problem.DPSCs had some power in 2002 where police officers could be suspended for carrying out offences suchas torture. The amendments in 2004 made the DPSC ineffective as the power of suspension was withdrawn.Mrs. Abbas stated that the police had no awareness about procedures such as preparing a policing plan,financial resourcing or target achievement. Further, the law is silent on taking adverse action against officials who donot submit a policing plan. In her mind it is a main ingredient for the efficacy of a DPSC.National Public Safety CommissionThe NPSC is seen as a functioning body as it holds regular monthly meetings. One of its functions is tooversee the PPSCs. In a brief summary by Mrs. Abbas, member of the NPSC:Balochistan: The PPSC is functioning, but there are very few resources, no political will and the policethere do not want any independent bodies overseeing them.NWFP: PPSC had been notified and one meeting was held in the presence of the NPSC.Sindh: The Chief Minister and the Governor were asked to make the PPSC effective.Punjab: The PPSC is not functioning. The police think the commission is useless.Mrs. Abbas stated that the writ of the government needs to support the NPSC as the police are a provincialsubject and the NPSC does not have links with the provinces. To date, the NSPC has not received any policing plansfrom the provinces. Coordination is needed otherwise the NPSC will be rendered useless. There are sincere workersfrom the police in the NPSC but the government thinks they are not important. Finally, a complaint authority, that isto function separately from the NSPC at the federal level as prescribed by the Order, has not yet been established andthis is a significant failing. Courts are hesitant to take any action against police officials and as a result the publicsuffer very badly. In addition, people with resources are above the law and use the police to their advantage.Therefore, the creation of an independent complaints body is crucial towards accountability of the police. In Mrs.Abbas’ view, the Order should be fully implemented and then as problems arise it should be subsequently improved.Instead, the Order has been amended without it having been implemented yet.Mr. Khosa highlighted the power of political pressure by saying that even the leader who sanctioned the newlaws, General Pervez Musharraf, succumbed to political pressure and allowed amendments to the Order in 2004.Under the amendments there are several substantive issues that have been changed for the negative (such as,composition of the PSCs, SHOs role in investigations, non-binding element of PSC recommendations, merger ofcomplaints and PSCs).The Order must be seen in the light of the devolution scheme. The role of district nazims is being revisited bythe government and changes to the Local Government Ordinance 2001 may be made, altering the devolution scheme.This will have wide-ranging effects on the checks and balances placed on the police force by the Order.There is a problem with the way committees are formed. Names are recommended and then decided by the