ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid Saturday said police had rendered great sacrifices for maintaining peace, law and order and combating terrorism in the country.
The minister was addressing the concluding session and certificate distribution ceremony of a two-day training of Public Relations Officers of Police Department Punjab here at Information Service Academy, organized by Pakistan Peace Collective, a project supervised by Ministry of IB&NH.
The minister said the sacrifices of policemen and officers should also be acknowledged, who had protected several lives by taking timely action and foiling the evil designs of the country’ senemies.
The perception of police in the minds of people should now be changed as this department had a history of dedication and commitment for the country, he added.
The policemen, he said, spent tough life, but they ensured relief to the common men. Citizens felt secure when they (policemen) were on duties. They also remained vigilant about the movement of terrorists, he added.
Besides maintaining law and order, the police personnel had been carrying out additional burden of dealing with terrorists’ activities in the country, the minister said.
He said the policemen were boldly fulfilling the responsibility with full dedication and zeal. Several of them had lost their lives but did not allow terrorists to play with the lives of innocent citizens, he added.
Pervaiz Rashid said unfortunately the police department could not receive appropriate response and acknowledgement from the public despite facing several challenges, which he termed, was unfair.
He said the services of such institutions, working for the welfare of the citizens or ensuring security of citizens lives and properties should be fully commended.
“This endorsement would increase the confidence of personnel of such institutions and they would serve in a more better way in order to maintain good image,” the minister said.
He added that acknowledgement from citizens for such institutions would also help improve the performance of staff. He said despite limited resources, the police department had done a great job in order to meet the expectations of the citizens.
He said that young officers, who had been appointed to manage media affairs, should pay more focus on image building of the police department. They were the people who were actually real face of the entire police department and they must present themselves as being expected.
He advised them to select appropriate words, polite language and decent attitude just like they used with their family members like mother and children.
He said whenever they talk with media, every one at homes watch them so they need to represent the department in true manner keeping in mind the presence of every age group person in front of television.
Later, the minister distributed course certificates among 51Public Relation Officers of the Police Department of various districts of Punjab.
