Law enforcement between centralisation and devolution: centre-provincial relations and and policing in Pakistan

This research project investigates the relationship between central and provincial government in Pakistan by focussing on the institution of the police. Police and policing both mirror the fraught relationship between the centre and the provinces in moder n Pakistan as well as indicate the fault-lines of conflicts between military and civilian elites. Consequently, policing along with past and present attempts at reforming the Pakistan Police and Security Sector Reform (SSR) in South Asia more generally ne ed to be understood in the political context of a federal territorial structure, elite competition and bargaining as well as the centralising tendencies of the security state. By engaging with recent literature on non-democratic federations and police-bu ilding, through interviews and archival research this project will address the question of what impact centre-provincial conflict has on policing and police reform in Pakistan. This research is highly relevant to policy makers and the wider research commu nity in counterterrorism, police-building and governance reform. It relevant to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs global policy agenda on facilitating peace and reconciliation and may contribute insights to other international initiatives that the Government of Norway is supporting in Pakistan.