Reforming police

The urgency of police reform has again come to the fore. Particularly, the agenda of raising the state organ's professionalism has been a long felt need to be attended to.
The issue of police reform is supposed to have been on the agenda since the Draft Police Ordinance was promulgated in 2007. Except laying occasional emphasis on the matter by different quarters, including some government leaders, no concrete step has so far been taken to do away with the colonial era Police Act of 1861 that still runs the police.
At a discussion held recently, speakers again echoed the predominant view about making this law and order organ of the government into a people-oriented force.  It was pointed out how successive governments have turned police into a partisan tool of the powers that be. Gradually, it has also become an instrument of oppression, at the hands of the party in power.
Small wonder, local and international human rights groups have been voicing repeated concerns about excesses being committed in the human rights domain. This is unfortunate for the police of an independent nation run by a democratically elected government.
It is not understandable why dust has been gathering on the issue of police reform. With a few months left in office, the incumbent government that came into office with a massive popular mandate can ill afford to ignore the issue and leave it unaddressed.
A plenty of recommendations for reform are on the table.  This is high time they are made use of.