Pakistan’s Mansehra introduces community service for traffic offenders

A person is taking care of plants as community service to get back their driving license.(Mansehra Police)

Two people are gardening under Public Social Responsibility (PSR) unit.(Mansehra Police)

Two people are cleaning a fountain pond under policeman supervision.(Mansehra Police)

MANSEHRA: Police in the Mansehra district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) have introduced 10-day community-service penalties for habitually negligent drivers — a first in Pakistan.
The offenders will have their licenses confiscated and will only get them back once they have completed their community service, which will involve socially beneficial tasks working in government departments including forestry, municipal administration, sanitation, and even traffic police.
Inspector Jamal Zeb of Mansehra traffic police told Arab News that offenders were only required to undertake community service for one hour a day, making it possible for them to go about their everyday lives.
“If someone does not wish to do it, he is made to do a short driving course at the traffic police driving school instead,” he added.
Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari, the district’s senior police officer, explained that after an individual receives their 10th traffic ticket, his department is authorized to cancel the driver’s license.
Those drivers, Bukhari said “can work with any official unit for 10 days.” He added that the new scheme is designed “to promote a sense of public and civic service among people.”
Bukhari added that he had observed similar systems in certain developed countries as well. He hopes the initiative will help reduce road accidents in and around the city.
However, Noor Alam Khan, a KP-based lawyer, believes that while the police have the right to cancel driving licenses, the implementation of punishment is strictly the domain of the provincial assembly.
“If this unique mode of disciplining people has to be introduced, then the provincial assembly should turn it into a law and implement it in all districts,” he said.
But Bukhari deemed this unnecessary. “We have talked to heads of different government departments,” he said. “They are interested in our initiative since they need workforce. If someone is not interested in doing the one-hour social work for 10 days, he can opt to pay 4,000 rupees ($40) to take the driving course, since that is another way of reclaiming the license.”