Daily Times

The police force of Sindh has earned a laurel internationally for its brutality. The force was quite well known for its inhuman treatment of the general public and its subjection to the dictates of the ruling elite within the borders of the country. Their brazen violation of human rights and human dignity and involvement in extra judicial killings has now travelled beyond continents and taken notice of from the Atlantic shores. One of their officers, Rao Anwar who had achieved notoriety for his brutality and indulgence in extrajudicial killings in fake police encounters has been enlisted as the big violator of human rights by the US Treasury Department along with 18 individuals from other underdeveloped countries. If the list is approved by the UN with Rao Anwar on it, the Government of Pakistan will have to seize his assets.

The guillotine of the divine justice had fallen on him after the brutal killing of a Pashtun model from the erstwhile tribal agencies, Naquibullah in Karachi along with three other alleged ‘terrorists’. The murder galvanized the Pashtun community in the Metropolis and swelled the protesting crowds in the city and Islamabad. The police officer remained in hiding for good months and finally surrendered to the Supreme Court of Pakistan when all options to circumscribe the outreach of the law were exhausted. However, the walls of the Jail did not prove strong enough to hold him for some months even. Sooner, his house was declared sub-jail to let him have a normal life. This could not have been possible without the support of some powerful quarters.

He has been accused of murdering some 400 persons in 190 fake police encounters including late Naquibullah. The officer remained posted in the district Malir of Karachi throughout his service. His career witnessed ebbing and flowing but he never lost the favour and patronage of the ruling elite. His brutality and the singular skill of maintaining his usefulness to the powers that may be always stood him in good stead. He remained above the regimental discipline of the force violating at his will the standing operational procedures prescribed by the rules. His brutality reached new bounds of notoriety when he was again posted as the Senior Superintendent of Police in Malir district and set on the task of helping in the appropriation of the ancestral lands of the villagers around the Bahria Housing Scheme on the Super Highway.

Working in collusion with Deputy Commission Shaukat Jokhio, he arrested villagers on fabricated charges, brutalized them and forced them to sell their lands to the Malir Development Authority or the Bahria Housing Scheme at throw-away prices. The illegal and forcible appropriation of villagers’ lands and the expansion of the Housing Scheme attracted the attention of the media. The Daily Dawn is credited to have carried out a long feature on appropriation of the poor villagers’ lands, orchards and even graveyards. Mr. Shaukat Jokhio and his team from the Revenue Department came on the radar of the National Accountability Bureau. They were arrested and lodged in Jail. But Mr. Rao remained untouched until the murder of Naquibullah. Finally, the land grabbing case landed in the Supreme Court.

There are many black sheep in the police force – much more brutal than Mr. Rao Anwar. The Model Town and Sahiwal killings are too fresh to be forgotten. Maybe, these killings were not planned like the pre-mediated gruesome murders in fake police encounters. The Sindh police also remained enmeshed in another brutal practice of ‘full fry or half fry’. The police arrested young people from the middle class on concocted charges of robbery, abduction for ransom and kept them in unlawful custody in police stations. They fixed the price of their freedom in millions failing which they were subjected to half fry (shooting in leg) or full fry (shooting above the abdomen and killing) in fake police encounters. The practice went on unchecked for some good years particularly in the jurisdiction of one police officer widely known as the architect of this brutal method.

Notwithstanding the inhumanity inherent in it, the present policing system suits to the ruling elite and the privileged class – politically influential and affluent families, landlords and patrons of the criminals

The Thana culture in our country is dreadful and quite unthinkable in any civilized society. It has been carried on from the colonial era throughout the seven decades of the independence of this country. These police stations reflect the psycho-pathetic mindset of the lower ranks of the police force. People are arrested, humiliated, tortured and beaten to pulp to extract forcible confessions from them. In this use of the so called third degree, many people lose their lives. Do we have forgotten the death of the mentally impaired Salahuddin in one of the police stations in Rahimyar Khan? His innocent words addressed to his tormentors smilingly in the police station ‘will you not beat me if I ask you a question’ keep on haunting every civilized citizen of this country. The old father of Naquibullah passed away before he could see the long arms of law catch Rao Anwar by neck. The poor father of Salahuddin must be sulking in dismay over the death of his son in his simple mud house.

How long we shall have to bear with the brutality of the police force. Notwithstanding the inhumanity inherent in it, the present policing system suits to the ruling elite and the privileged class – politically influential and affluent families, landlords and patrons of the criminals. Notwithstanding Imran Khan’s drumbeat on his election trail for police reforms, the PTI government in Punjab and the PTI supported administration in Balochistan seem to have deviated from the course of bringing about any change in our Thana culture. If it is so, it would be the greatest disappointment to have ever struck the middle class and his constituency. The other political leaders, being part of the status quo, are quite happy with this policing system. Prime Minister Imran Khan had raised hopes of change. The police reforms are going to be the litmus test of his resolve. He should not fail his admirers and supporters.

The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books