Daily Times

The Police department is of paramount importance for the peacekeeping of any country. Pakistan Police is right there. Why is it so notorious, then? Do Policemen not work hard for making you feel safe in your bed? Do Policemen not get martyred during the exchange of bullets in shootouts?
Ask ordinary people of Pakistan about their thoughts on our police and I can assure you that you won’t get positive feedback. Some of them even have the audacity to call them “chillar” (waste fruit peels). I remember I was once driving with my butler sitting on the passenger seat. While passing Thokar, I slowed down my car in order to allow an old police officer to cross the road. On this, my butler, jokingly, asked me to run him over for according to him, these people don’t deserve to live. Even my mother does not back me when I express my desire to join the police force. She would rather have me sent to the army. Over the years I’ve made this analysis that for our people, the army is “Subhan Allah” but Police, “Astag Fir Ullah!” My father forms a part of the short list of people who would support my career in the police department (as a CSP Officer). Even then I once overheard him say to one his friends on the phone that he gets extremely puzzled when he thinks of me as a police officer. Though there are a few people, like my brother and a very close friend of mine, who praise our police department, generally such people are rare to find. My driver, who also happens to be a best friend, always talks about the use gratuitous violence and elements of corruption present in this department. Well to people like him, I just want to shout out that almost every department of every country has elements of corruption. Even your dear darling army has elements of corruption present.

A few days back I heard my neighbours’ boy talk ill of police. He is no more than six years and cannot even count to ten properly, but he does know how to deride our Police eloquently.
There was a time once when Pakistan’s entertainment industry used to work in Police’s favor. Ashir Azeem’s ever-green action-packed drama, “Dhuwan“, is an example. In this soap, a freshly recruited ASP (ASP Azhar) is celebrated. The drama glorifies the life in police and appreciates their efforts to make this country a more secure place to abide in. The drama received acclaim by the viewers and the critics alike and, even today, stands out as one of the best. Nowadays, there is hardly a drama which focuses on anything but the usual “saas-bahu” squabbles.

To be very honest our media plays an important role. They play a role, not in support of police department, God forbid, but against it. I mean never did I hear any news channel acknowledge the efforts of police soldiers, as I like to call them. If the police use baton charge against the violent protestors, they are cruel, if they don’t, they are careless. If they shell tear gas, they are hurting the “innocent” mob, but if the protest goes on rampantly, then they are ignorant. Even humorous talk shows such as Hasb e Haal never fail to seize an opportunity to make the police department the butt of their jokes; calling them “chillars” and mocking police by playing an imaginary constable, Allah Dita, in the most sarcastic way possible. On the other hand, the army soldiers are presented as gallant protectors.

A few days back, DPO Jahanzaib Kakar was found dead in his office. Someone had put a bullet through his head and then tried to present his death as a suicide. For how long did this story remain on the newsfeed? On the other hand, a few days back, all of our news channels went wild on the fact that Molvi Abdul Qawi arranged for himself a rendezvous with the pretentious model, Qandeel Baloch. To them, a Maulana’s escapades with a woman who wants nothing but attention is of greater importance than the death of a person who had just done his masters in criminology from an internationally acclaimed university and could have brought major criminals in our country to book. The Qandeel Baloch saga is still sufficiently viral; talk about misplaced priorities!
Being a Pakistani, I love my army as well. It’s just that I’m a civilian who wants to appreciate his country’s civilian fighting force and wants their sacrifices to be acknowledged. Police officers work hard day and night, they don’t care about themselves and are even ready to leave their children orphans and their wives widows if they have to for the sake of this country. One of my best friends is the son of a martyred police officer but never did I see grief in his eyes for the fact that his father sacrificed himself for his country. His elder brother will soon be qualified as a police officer, and he says that he is destined to join the army when he grows up. NOW THAT’S PATRIOTISM!

Abdullah Moeen will soon be a student of A Levels. He is fiercely patriotic and aims to appear in CSS exams one day in order to serve his beloved country.