Amid rising numbers of police brutality cases, the spokesperson to Punjab chief minister (CM), Dr Shahbaz Gill, has said that the personnel of the provincial police department “were never like those in Switzerland”.

“Changing the culture of any department takes time. Be it exploiting or improving, it does not happen overnight,” said Gill, whose ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had been elected to power after promises to reform Punjab police, among others.

Referring to the recent spike in police brutality cases and custodial deaths in the province, Gill said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had told CM Usman Buzdar to revamp service-related institutions of Punjab, specifically the police department.

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“He [PM] also appreciated the role played by Punjab police on Ashura and gave clear directions that the police should serve its people as it did in Muharram, rather than being violent and torturing its citizens.”

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“Was it [Punjab police] like Swiss police a year ago? We should know it takes time to change the culture of any department,” he said, adding that it had taken over two years to reform the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police.