The beating of the police surgeon who debunked the Frontier Corps’ (FC’s) concocted story on how the five foreigners got killed near a check post at Kharotabad in Quetta before the tribunal set up to investigate the matter is not an isolated incident. It is part of a larger phenomenon, whereby the police and other law enforcement agencies consider themselves the be all and end all. One is amazed by the shamelessness of the security agencies which, after receiving worldwide condemnation for murdering five innocent foreigners, instead of mending their ways, are ‘offended’ by the testimony of the police surgeon who confirmed they were killed by FC fire and went so far as to try to abduct him and, on his resistance, badly beat him up. There are countless other incidents, big and small, that corroborate this mindset of impunity of the law enforcement and security agencies. They do not want to be subjected to any kind of accountability and, when caught red-handed, shamelessly harass the whistle blowers. Consider, for example, the almost daily abduction of Baloch activists by the security agencies, who are then tortured, killed and their bodies dumped with impunity. Despite the discovery of scores of such tortured bodies in all areas of Balochistan, no one has been held accountable. The recent killing of a boy by the Rangers in Karachi in cold blood, who then had the temerity to register an FIR for robbery against the victim, is another case in point. Fortunately, the Supreme Court intervened and is now overseeing this case. But even this is not expected to change their attitude anytime soon. Just yesterday, the police first shelled and then opened fire at protesting doctors in Quetta in front of the chief minister’s secretariat. Eight doctors were wounded. In Lahore, a probe into the recent killing of a 23-year-old man has revealed the police killed him in a fake encounter after arresting him while attempting a robbery. On the other hand, Karachi presents a saga of continued violence and turf wars, where no citizen feels safe and opponents are ruthlessly killed to protect ‘territory’. On Monday, at least 11 people lost their lives in these turf wars. All these incidents, when pieced together, present an appalling picture of our law enforcement apparatus. In the present circumstances, when we confront terrorism, a breakdown of law and order and a general state of insecurity and panic among the public, the law enforcement agencies, instead of rising to the challenge and finding new and better ways of conducting themselves, have relied on their past tendencies with a vengeance. Where they are confronted with powerful adversaries, like in Karachi, the security forces remain paralysed and let them play havoc, but when they lay their hands on someone weak, they turn into predators and treat them in the most inhuman ways. More often than not, they behave inappropriately while controlling crowds or dealing with alleged criminals. The abductions, extra-judicial killings, shelling and firing at peaceful protests, breakdown of discipline and breaking the law are all part of this phenomenon, which has been reinforced in the present circumstances. The security personnel lack proper training and are governed by a culture of impunity. If this trend continues, it will benefit those whose agenda is to destabilise the country. We are no more living in colonial times, nor are the public so uninformed as to ignore this blatant disregard of their human rights. It is time to overhaul the law enforcement paradigm, and base it on respect for citizens and their rights.*