Daily Times

As if the whole world has changed in the last eight years. Financial crises shook the US economy and almost sank the whole system. So forceful was its blow that it could only be rescued by pumping trillions of dollars into the markets. Besides that, Barack Obama won the presidential elections and moved into the White House as its only non-white resident ever, a miracle almost as surprising as Moses converting his rod into a serpent.

A couple of years later, starting from Tunisia, a massive wave of public protests — the Arab Spring — swept the Middle East and North Africa, overthrowing some of the most powerful leaders in the region: Muammar Gaddafi of Libya (killed), Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (incarcerated), Zain-ul-Abideen Ibn-e-Ali of Tunisia (resigned) and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen (exiled). Then a mysterious yet formidable force, Islamic State (IS), rose up from nowhere and took over half of Iraq and Syria, unleashing its own version of violent and abrasive Islam, a version that is much harsher and inhuman than what is practiced and promoted by Saudi Arabia and the Taliban even.

Pakistan too experienced its fair share of turmoil. In March 2007, former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry got suspended illegally by a military dictator, enraging the whole nation, which poured out onto the streets till the CJ was restored. A few months later, he was thrown into house arrest along with his family for months, only to be set free and reinstated by the civilian government. After he returned to office the second time, he finished his tenure without any interruption as the strongest and maybe the most controversial person in Pakistan.

Along with that, the PPP-led coalition completed its five-year tenure and transferred power peacefully to the PML-N after the general elections of 2013, a miracle for Pakistanis more astonishing than the victory of a black president for the US. Then, with the consent of all the political parties, just a year ago, the long overdue operation against terrorists in North Waziristan finally commenced with jets roaring over Miranshah like thunderstorms, their bellies spewing out bombs. We can already appreciate the results. Above all, the Peshawar massacre jolted the national spirit, compelling us to unite as one nation and crush the menace once and for all.

In short, everything changed from one pole to another; even our wishy-washy stance on sectarianism is shaping up and, very soon, I am confident that Pakistanis will step forward to protect our minorities like a mother shields her newborn child. However, what has not changed are the universal laws of motion, the gravitational pull, divine scripture, the innate ability of fire to burn or water to extinguish it and, along with them, what has not changed is the dismal performance of the Punjab police. Nor does it seem that it will improve any time soon. At least, we know from our experience under the authoritative rule of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who thinks the most important job of the police is to serve him and his family, that an independent law enforcing agency does not fall in the list of his priorities, not even at the bottom.

No, I do not hold him personally responsible for the Model Town massacre of 2014 when police mowed down more than a dozen workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). To be clear, I do not think it was a planned operation with any intention to kill as many have tried to portray. Nonetheless, I believe it was the inability of the police to handle any tense situation that led to the illegitimate and unnecessary use of power.

Following the same trail, this ineptness was exposed again a few weeks ago when Station House Officer (SHO) Shahzad Waraich in Daska, Sialkot, shot dead Tehseel Bar President Rana Khalid Abbas and his colleague Irfan Chouhan during a brawl. True, the lawyers were violently protesting and provoking the officer, even calling him out to show his strength. A well-trained agent in this situation would have kept himself calm but the ill-prepared policeman did not know how to get out of the conflict once he had jumped in; instead, the higher the tone of the lawyers got, the deeper the police officer dug in his heels, aggravating the dispute till the deaths. After Lahore and Sialkot, we know very well that it will happen somewhere else, followed by somewhere else and again someplace else. The question is: when and how will it stop? What will it take for Shahbaz Sharif to understand the importance of fundamental reforms in this forsaken department? How many people will have to lose their lives before he gets it? Hundreds? More?

Does he not know that ignoring them is hurting his reputation and challenging his claim of being a good administrator? That the police have become so corrupt and incompetent that ordinary people when robbed or abducted negotiate with the criminals themselves and cut a deal directly with the perpetrators instead of involving the police? That they suspect if they followed the rules, they would have to settle the issue with two adversaries instead of just one?

We do not know the answer to all these questions but a chief minister who instead of human development is focusing on road work, instead of education in the province is busy running foreign policy, instead of law and order is more concerned about the electricity crisis, can be called anything except a good executive. Do we not deserve a person who can take the bull by the horns or do we just have to live with a chief minister who disregards the safety of his people?

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com