© 2023 Journal of ISOSS 183 Journal of ISOSS 2023 Vol. 9(1), 183-198 DOES POLITICIZING AFFECT THE PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY Zeeshan Aslam 1 , Aisha Azhar 1 , Amna Ali 2 and Azhar Manzoor 2§ 1 School of Governance and Society, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: zeeshan.aslam87@yahoo.com aisha.azhar@umt.edu.pk 2 Lahore Business School, University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: amna.ali@lbs.uol.edu.pk 70110789@student.uol.edu.pk § Corresponding author ABSTRACT Unable to expel its dark side, deeply rooted among the public, the Police in Punjab seem a threat instead of a public-friendly organization, which depicts a negative relationship between the Police and the general masses. The attempts have been unsuccessful to refashion the negative image of the Police through introducing reforms in the past. The reforms were either not implemented or could not achieve the desired results. Therefore, this study highlights the experiences of different societal stakeholders and the various reasons behind the weak implementation process of reforms. The study also highlights the lack of political administration dichotomy and the role politics and bureaucracy play in resisting any progressive change in the system. This study follows the qualitative approach, and interviews were conducted with various police officers, legal advisors, and media personnel, supported by content analysis of the newspaper. The findings indicate that the political power and decentralized decision-making highly constrain the department of Punjab police. Furthermore, the causal factors are categorized into themes, i.e., the economy explains the low budgetary allocations, weak governance structure highlights the lack of implementation and accountability, and politicized policing explains the deep-rooted involvement of politicians and bureaucrats in administrative functions of Punjab police. KEYWORDS Police Reforms, Politicizing, Qualitative, Political Interference. INTRODUCTION Pakistan is the 6th most populous country, and within our country, Punjab province is considered the most densely populated province. According to Jabbar & Mohsin (2014), the province, however, is facing various problems and issues in the enforcement of law and order situation. The abnormal increase in population, widespread corruption, selective enforcement of the law, lack of medical facilities and poor academic opportunities, political fluctuations, and economic disorder present a picture of complexity. PILDAT (2015)