The painful ordeal of a widow from Lahore coming to an end after tragic two-and-a-half years is an amazing feel-good story. That the premier took it upon himself to bring justice to her after she narrated how she was being hornswoggled due to the influence of a police officer speaks volumes about his commitment to the masses. The skipper should be appreciated for not sticking to the political script. This respite should be appreciated as what it truly represented: a genuine effort laced with empathy to change lives. But going beyond the commendable optics, the plight of a woman who knocked on doors after doors just to get her fundamental rights has laid bare the shambolic state of police reforms. Plainly put, it is this miserable failure to carry out their duties that Pakistani police officers have overwhelmingly lost the public confidence as the protectors of their property and persons. The kaptaan’s 2018 manifesto accorded much-needed hope to comprehensive reforms that would profoundly improve the criminal justice system. During the last nearly three years, there have been repeated attempts to replicate the success of the KP Police Act 2017 across the country. It was primarily for this purpose that PM Khan opened the innings in Punjab with former IG KP, Nasir Durrani, as the chief of a police reforms commission. Alas! His noble intentions couldn’t put up a good fight against the decades-old high-handedness. When General Pervaiz Musharraf decided to abolish the executive magistracy over the police, he unleashed upon us the ugliest form of a largely corrupt, brutal force that thrived on the abhorrent thana culture. For who can forget the gruesome murder of Osama Satti in Islamabad, the blood-curdling record of Sindh’s “encounter specialist” Rao Anwar and the macabre shooting in Sahiwal? The rot goes as deep as the roots! Those lauding praises on the skipper and his team for a timely redress of the old wrongs should not forget the impunity of a fast and loose police officer working in cahoots with some parliamentarians. Unless he is made an example of for twisting the law as per his petty whims, such negative practices would continue as the sine qua non of our police force. It is the officers that can make or break this crucial institution. But how can an officer, who rides into a system on a unicorn of privilege, be expected to serve professionally and modestly? Police reforms have been the clarion call in Pakistan for as long as you can remember. The job was never easy! But if anyone has the guts to figure out how to push the right buttons, it is this government. Let’s just hope their bona fides do not get drowned in political hullabaloo! *