Police reforms are needed! They are needed to being made at their earliest! Human rights violations occur when any actor either belonging to the state or not upholds the law. And this upholding and breaching of the law have become a widely spread menace in the Pakistani police system. Malfunctioned system, extrajudicial killings, illegal detentions, and custodial deaths are a few among the many factors explaining why a modern police legislation system is necessary for Pakistan. Have a look at the recent unlawful killings, arrests, and tortures by the Punjab police. In Lahore, the middle-aged man Amjad Ali while in Rahim Yar Khan, Salahuddin Ayubi -the man whose ATM video has gone viral on the internet-breathed their last while being tortured in the police custody. The social media has got stormed with the hashtags and statuses. I know it’s the age of the internet and people speaking for their rights is good, but how good is it when the voices raised aren’t being transferred into any action! Your, mine and any other layman’s voice is being shackled. Prime Minister Imran Khan in a recent meeting with CM Punjab Usman Buzdar has ordered to expedite the police reforms. PTI whose major slogan besides curbing corruption was to reform the police system is somehow proving itself incompetent as the cases of human rights’ violations are augmenting with every passing day. The 1861 Police Act needs to get replaced with a modern, up to date, and comprehensive police system. In 1999, during Musharraf’s era, a focus group was placed to formulate police reforms. After facing numerous trials and tribulations, the group managed to present a set of reforms in 2002. Were those reforms implemented properly, the police system might have not been in shatters today. So what is needed to be done when the entire police system needs to get reformed? First, police should be the independent organ having no political influence. The growing culture of inefficiency where the powers of the police are being manipulated by those who carry excessive power needs to get changed. Moreover, it should follow the direction given by the courts and should be made accountable for supreme power as a whole. The officers should perform their duties according to the issued SOPs. Police should be the independent organ having no political influence Second and most important reform needed is educating the police. By educating, I mean teaching the police officials what human rights and norms are. In Pakistan, police training focuses solely on physical training. Likewise, this fragile training system does not encompass modern investigation techniques. When the PTI government came into power in 2018, it pledged to reform the ‘Gullu But” mentality that is prevalent in the police system. Now, all it has to do is making it necessary to teach the police that everyone has the right of a fair trial. Moreover, there is a need to make sure that every person has the right to be presumed innocent until he’s being proven guilty. And all this needs to be done under a free and fair trial. Third and the most important one is that such a police system to be made that help maintain social order. And to achieve this end we have to improve the work environment and culture at the police stations. Since the democratic order and its norms and values flourish only when the police system is strong within itself! Forth, the image of the police needs to get changed. Discouraging corrupt practices can make the department more transparent. Similarly, the government should reallocate the number of funds that it gives to the police sector. As greater fund allocation would alleviate the environment of bribery and blackmailing. The system should devise means and reforms where the sole purpose of the police is to respond to the needs of the masses. The linkage between the victim and the investigator needs to be made stronger. And the police should work with such devotion that it considers the satisfaction of the victim nothing but its top priority. The reforms are needed to be implemented by hook or by crook. Otherwise, entire Pakistan would be in danger. This time, it is Salahuddin. The next one facing the barbarous attitude of the police could be either you or me. So, the officials should gear up because now it is the case of not just Salahuddin Ayubi or Amjad Ali, but of every single Pakistani. The writer is an economist and a content writer. Her interest in politics, economy and technology