Daily Times

The age Pakistan is passing through has outpaced the type of policing practised in Pakistan. Zeroing in on Punjab, one finds that the police have been facing a number of challenges.
One of the major challenges to the performance of the Lahore police is favouritism extended by politicians to political workers or sycophants who in turn support gangs of various sorts, including those busy in extorting money from citizens. For instance, a few months ago, a police officer who busted one such gang, the bhatta (extortion) mafia engaged in extorting money at Tollington Market Shadman, Lahore, was penalised by none other than Chief Minister Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif. The reason was that the person (reportedly someone with the alias Boody Pehalwan), who surfaced to save the gang members from the police, had given a ride on his shoulders to Mian Nawaz Sharif in the inner city when the latter returned to Lahore in 2007. In such an atmosphere of paying favours back by politicians, why would a police officer seize the criminals to save citizens from their highhandedness? If the sword of deterrence keeps hanging over their necks, the police cannot perform its duties. Secondly, if the police are dispirited, citizens are left at the mercy of criminals. That is how crime spawns and misgovernance gets hold of society. Against this background, what is the sense of doubling the salaries of Punjab police and training and equipping them with weapons if they are dissuaded from performance? Similarly, what is the sense of citizens paying taxes if political workers or toadies are supported at the altar of the performance of the police?
The second challenge comes from the field of technology. The police are facing problems in becoming up to date with the intricacies of crime, the unravelling of which now necessitates a mastery of cyber space. For instance, the police do not have an independent Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), which is a mobile phone tracking system. Resultantly, the police face difficulties in tracing criminals. The police have to send a request and then wait for the response from intelligence agencies (the ISI, MI, and IB) using the GSM. Several crimes including mobile snatching can be minimised if the GSM is given to the police. The office of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) can be used to obviate the system’s misuse, if that is apprehended.
The third challenge is from the Taliban (or al Qaeda) factor active now in kidnappings for ransom to raise funds, besides kidnapping important personalities to get their fellows released under a quid pro quo arrangement. The example of the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer in August 2011 is a case in point. An American national Dr Warren Weinstein was also kidnapped and reportedly a long list of demands has been given to the police to meet. How the kidnappers managed to whisk them away to the tribal areas is still an enigma. These incidents call for capacity building of the police.
The fourth challenge is that the Police Order 2002 is functional in Punjab undoubtedly, but only partially. Its Article 12 ensures three years tenure posting of a provincial police officer but this law is violated by governments. DPOs are not conveyed reasons for their premature transfers. For instance, in the case of DPO Sargodha Dr Mohammad Rizwan, in violation of the said article, he was transferred to Gilgit-Baltistan because he detained a former MPA belonging to the PPP, Aslam Midhana, required in the horrible incident of breaking publicly both legs of a schoolteacher Nafees Khan Lodhi. The transfer rules were used as an instrument to penalise the police officer. Not the Police Order 2002 but the suo motu action taken by the Supreme Court annulled his transfer orders and booked Midhana for the crime he committed. The Police Order 2002 should be made fully functional in Punjab.
The fifth challenge is how to interact with the public. There are instances of a direct clash between citizens and the police on one matter or another. Citizens are getting angry with the police while the police are getting weary of citizens. The estrangement is growing fast. Especially, women are suffering immensely. One of the reasons is that the National Public Safety Commission and the relevant Provincial and District Public Safety Commissions are dysfunctional. Article 38 of the Police Order 2002 makes it mandatory to have one-third representation of women in District Public Safety Commissions. Further, the commissions were supposed to facilitate the establishment and operation of Citizen Police Liaison committees in accordance with Article 168 of the Police Order 2002. The idea to constitute the commission was to take the police out of political influence and hold it accountable to citizens, especially women. The idea was to provide civilian oversight of policing. Politicians are still averse to loosening their grip on the police because they are eager to use the police for meeting their political and social objectives instead of making it serve the public.
The sixth challenge is how to deal with lawyers who are now a force to reckon with. For instance, on May 4, 2007, during the lawyers’ movement in Sahiwal, on the orders of the then Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the police used teargas and baton-charged the protesting lawyers who had taken out a torch-bearing rally. A few lawyers (reportedly 12 in number) including the then President of District Bar Sahiwal Sheikh Muhammad Usman suffered burns. Criminal proceedings started against the police officers concerned. The case lingered on in the court. Now, no judge is ready to hear their case and no lawyer is ready to plead for them. Generally speaking, the feelings of animosity engendered between lawyers and the police during the lawyers’ movement are still festering. To end this rift, a body comprising of both lawyers and the police should be set up at the provincial level to promote negotiations and amity between them.

The writer is a freelance journalist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com