Daily Times

Outlaws and in-laws are both handle-with-care areas. Those below the law or above the law are bound to be pursued. That is the job of law enforcement agencies. But if law enforcement agencies become politicised, chaos and crime flourish. What happened in Karachi when SSP Rao Anwar Ahmed apprehended Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Khawaja Izhar is a case in point. We see policemen dragging him amidst resistance insisting that he had followed the law. Soon there were orders by the chief minister (CM) of Sindh to release Izhar as Anwar had not taken permission from the Speaker before arresting a member of the assembly.

To add to this action horror, the prime minister steps in and talks to the CM, and lo and behold, SSP Anwar is suspended and Kamran Fazal, DIG East, is removed. Then came another phone call reportedly from Dubai, which resulted in the restoration of Kamran Fazal. Which laws were followed in all these arrests, suspensions, removals and restorations will remain a mystery, but what is crystal clear is that the law of power-politics reigns supreme in Pakistan.

If you want to see what devastation politicisation of this most important state organ has done to its efficiency and effectiveness just read the most recent findings on police performance. A report compiled by a committee constituted by the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat titled “Addressing Maladministration in Police Stations” stated that at present, personnel working as assistant sub-inspectors or in lower positions, constituting 12 percent of the force, hardly have any authority, while the remaining 88 percent either do not work or have no trust in their superiors.

Consider: 88 percent not working is a crime; 88 percent not working is a huge drain on taxpayers’ resources; 88 percent not working is bankruptcy of any institution; 88 percent not working is corruption of the highest order; 88 percent not working is death of merit; and 88 percent not working is intentional destruction of the institution.

The other factor of 88 percent not trusting their superiors is even more lethal. That means a lack of leadership, a lack of motivation, a lack of merit and, therefore, a complete lack of commitment to work and ethics. The biggest factor that holds any institution together and builds a high performing team is trust. Research shows that in high trust organisations, productivity is 10 to 100 times higher depending on the stage of the organisation compared to low trust organisations. When trust is not present people dodge and delay; when trust is not there disengagement and diversion start; when trust is absent systems and laws are not respected; and when trust is missing belief in instructions, SOPs and procedures disappears. Distrust is the cancer of all relationships, and eventually eats up individuals, departments and institutions.

The findings of this report are frightening, to say the least. It estimates that almost 90 percent personnel in the police force are undereducated and without power or authority. The report clearly says that the police are involved in corruption, and instead of curtailing crime abet and sponsor crime. “Making money through illegal means is being practised in an organised manner within neighbourhoods, proliferating crime and vice, particularly the functioning of wine shops, drug dens, and prostitution.” The police practising organised corruption is a catastrophe; the police helping in multiplying crime is barbaric; and the police giving a cover to all illegal activities is a nightmare. But that is the unfortunate reality of the situation.

The report paints a gloomy picture of police stations across the country that are severely understaffed and under-resourced. It revealed that policemen were unable to fulfil their duties due “to lack of training, influence of bigwigs, unaccountability, poor planning and failing to upgrade their technology to investigate crime scenes among others.” This explains the lack of trust and proliferation of crime. While lack of training and up-gradation of technology are relatively easy to address the real virus is the influence of bigwigs and unaccountability. Without the latter two factors the earlier two factors are also futile. Influence of the powerful is evident daily. From the prime minister ringing up to suspend an officer to a party head calling from Dubai to restore another officer, stories abound of laws and procedures being tossed out of the window in reverence of those who call the shots. Tragic stories of the erring sons and grandsons of the powerful killing innocent people and being protected by police are the norm. Justice for the innocent becomes cumbersome, expensive, life-threatening and debilitating. When the police had failed to punish Mustafa Kanju who killed the 15-year-old Zain in a roadside flare-up, the court finally took suo motu action. When Zain’s mother was called to court she refused to take the case forward as she said, “ I have lost a son, I will lose my other children as these people will not leave me.” What could be more tragic than a mother not willing to pursue justice to her son’s killers, as she knows that those who are law enforcers may become death enforcers.

What will happen to this investigative report is what has happened to all such reports previously. A committee will be formed, which will recommend another specially trained force to create a ‘model police force’. It may be named Elite or Dolphin or Tiger Force, and millions will be spent on their training and marketing. However, such efforts further demotivate the existing police force. What is needed are reforms that make the police independent of politicians; what is needed is politicians willing to make those reforms; what is needed is leaders in the police willing to stand against political pressure; and what is needed is the ruthless enforcement of merit and accountability. A tall order but a model of this has been successfully implemented and acknowledged by all experts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a marked improvement in performance where crime has decreased by 53 percent.

However, what happened in Sindh will not help the cause of reforming police in Pakistan. If investigations are reduced to media breaking news, and the hiring and firing remain the prerogative of phone calls from higher-ups then the next report on police performance may show an increase from 88 percent to 100 percent officers who either do not want to work or have no trust in their superiors.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com