PESHAWAR:Regional Police Officer (RPO) Malakand Region, Sajjad Khan (PSP) has said that maintaining law and order in Malakand Division was a top of his priorities and his primary responsibility as a regional police chief, saying the entire police force was playing active role in this regard.
He expressed these views during a meeting with a delegation of Swat Press Club led by its Chairman Saeedur Rehman at his office in Saidu Sharif, Swat on Thursday.
The delegation included Shiraz Khan,Salim Athar, Ghafoor Khan Adil, Niaz Ahmad Khan,Fazal Khaliq Khan, Fazal Rahim Khan Lala, Hazrat Ali Bacha, Iftikhar Ahmed and senior journalist Fayaz Zafar as its members.
The RPO added that protection of life and property of the masses was essential part of the police and in this regard, all possible efforts will be made to achieve this goal. He said that the journalists community has an important role in establishing public confidence and trust building through their voice and writings while, as the fourth pillar of the state, the media needs to discourage spread of false news through providing factual information and positive message in the heterogeneous masses.
During the meeting, the delegation congratulated the newly posted RPO on assuming new responsibilities in Malakand and discussed various matters related to policing, regional peace and law and order situation with him.
On this occasion, the RPO said that the state institutions, especially the police department was in need of full cooperation of the journalistic community in establishing better law and order environment, elimination of social evils from society and improving better policing in the region.
He went on to say that journalists were like the eyes and ears of the society as the masses not only consume factual information and verified news by various journalistic means but through them, there was an element of self-accountability in the institutions as well. He said that his effort as a regional police chief would be to adopt a quick information reception mechanism for journalists so that they receive on time vision and information in case of any incident. Stern action will be taken against the elements involved in drugs and other social evils in the region while the whole police will play their role more actively, he added.
During the meeting, the journalists delegation expressed their full cooperation from the journalist community to the newly posted regional police chief.