Reforming
the Police is an Impossible Task, or is it?
By
Dr Zafar Altaf
HAVING
RECEIVED the benefits of sycophancy the Police is now in disarray.
The reasons are obvious. In public service hate cannot be the
basis of reorganization.
The
conflict between the District Magistrate [DM] and the Superintendent
of Police [SP] was created by the lower echelon. When I went as
District Magistrate of Sahiwal the first thing that the Wasil
Baqi Navis (clerk) told me was that the SP was a disaster
as he had come from Tibbi police station in Lahore and despite
the fact that he was a ranker he was arrogant.
This
on the first day. I rang up the SP to ask him whether what was
being stated by the subordinate was correct. The SP was surprised.
At least that was what his PA told me. It was orchestrated. Now
why this conflict? The subordinates gain from such conflict. Obviously
there is a role to be played by the SP and he is the right hand
of the entire law and order game. This has now been disturbed.
The District Magistrate's powers flow from the authority vested
in him by the various laws and rules and regulations of the High
Court.
These
District Magistrates provide for a detached view and had the confidence
of the local population. I recall that I was always available
to the populace and I was worried when no one came to see me.
The Commissioner had no role and that was what I told the then
Commissioner. The Commissioners only hear appeals on revenue matters
when the District Magistrate acts in his capacity as Collector
of the district.
These
things aside the police officers deal with alleged criminals and
in doing so the exponential experience leads them to think that
everyone is in this vein. If not I challenge any one of the past
and present National Reconstruction Bureau to go and test their
reforms in the police station. Try civility and I am sure you
will get a civil answer. If you do not just put it to crank behavior
or any other rationalization that you can get to.
What does the Police Act say in respect of the essentials? First
it does not have a preamble. Why? What is the use of a preamble
as there is no need of any overriding philosophical responsibility?
The rest of the world has an overarching responsibility but they
happen to be a pack of universal idiots while we have all the
wisdom.
Instead
of a preamble we have a Chief Executive Order [how servile can
we get in the Ministry of Interior] that states unequivocally
and I quote:
"Whereas
the Police has an obligation and duty to function according to
the constitution, Law and democratic aspirations of the people:
"And
whereas such functioning of the police requires it to be professional,
service- oriented and accountable to the people...."
Let me analyze this bit first. The obligation of the police and
duty of the police seems to be to follow personal dictates. Were
the police acting constitutionally when they were allowing the
authorities to beat up a pregnant woman in the police station
when she was due to deliver in five days time. Is that the obligation
that has been delivered? Is that the constitutional right that
has been satisfied? Only yesterday the police went on a rampage
against the death of a tonga driver, allegedly killed by robbers
on a motorcycle in the sleepy town of Donga Bonga in Bahawalnagar.
Instead
of giving a badge of honor to a tonga driver who had more decency
and who laid his life trying to protect the property of a person
he did not know, the police resorted to firing and killed four?
Why has a murder case not been registered against the police officials?
In Islamabad recently on the death of Azam Tariq the police did
the same. Loss of life is of no consequence to them. Law has been
maintained and order is the order of the day.
In
Sheikhupura the police are rampant in protecting the life and
liberty of the population to such an extent that no one dares
to venture out lest he is kidnapped and held for ransom. The snatching
of a motorcycle is a minor offence over there.
Most
of the police people do not know what is the constitution and
which one is it that they are talking about. The sages do not
have any need for it. They are at the whims of the power brokers
and they get saluted for toeing the line. And sure they are accountable
that is why they get to where they want to and do not want it
to be done by any one and that is why the accountability clause
is a qualified one.
The
nazim who has stepped into the shoes and the underwear of the
former CSP and DMG are such nincompoops that one shot at their
assets by the police infidels and they will come to their senses.
The
law and order is a function of detailed debate and dialogue between
the aggrieved parties. The police have never been trained for
dialogue and their language is profusely abusive. What do you
expect from a policeman who gets only Rs 4,000 per month? You
try and live on that 'handsome' salary? There is such a difference
between theory and practice?
The
police are supposed to be professionals but every time that I
see a police professional I know that he is trying to cover up
his meager salary by touching the pocket of some one or the other.
You see the traffic police behind trees and bushes and you see
them negotiating from a position of strength. And why not? I was
intrigued by the fact that there are some passenger vans that
were allowed to go on while the others were stopped for no violation.
Till I learnt that the ones stopped did not carry an "insurance
sticker" given every month to vehicles which pay a certain
sum in the police extortion fund.
The badge of insurance was necessary to see that the van plied
on the road. But why blame the current police man for I think
they have been done in by their officers class. The officers always
crib for and people like the interior ministers any time and every
time seek more mobility so that the officer’s children have
a toy at home to play with. Some toy some child. And so it goes
on. The ones in the lower echelons have no spirit to do anything.
There
was a bomb blast at Pir Widhai bus stand mosque. The police rounded
up every able bodied person in the vicinity, 150 in all. To plant
one bomb they happened to need 150 of them. I pleaded with one
I thought to be a reasonable police officer for a young man who
was to get married in five days time. To no avail I then realized
what kind of people they are. The widowed mother called me and
I went through all the paces till in exasperation I asked the
mother to pay up, for these scoundrels will not stop at any thing.
I
was right. They had done another clever ploy. They had put about
ten investigation teams to seek the culprits. And each one would
say that the person was not with them. Great professionalism.
There were three dacoities at Lahore. In the Halla milk cooperative,
in a textile mill and in Gen. Safdar Butt’s factory at Jalloo.
Since I was with Halla milk I asked General what he had done.
He said I have ‘morchaad’ (check post) the
top of the gate and any bastard that comes on will be roasted.
I
checked with the Textile mill and they were still in a shock.
Halla said they were going to the police. The police asked them
to pay them a set some of money as a big shots son had been robbed
and he had to be paid that amount to indicate that the police
had recovered the money from the culprit. And they also showed
the Halla people the culprit. He happened to be a well bandaged
Afghan who was barely alive and unable to say anything.
The
Halla people carried out their own investigations? They finally
located and through one of the rarest people, whom I happened
to know, had the people arrested. Guess what they found? One was
an auditor, two were doctors and one was an income tax officer.
Some dacoits. Two were absconding. This is the law of the land.
The police had done its duty in a most professional manner.
They
are service oriented. I do not see how? I probably do not have
access to the right kind of police. Must be Robert Peel’s
bobby that I need to meet. Our legacy of the police is such that
one has to be ashamed of oneself not the police. So instead of
giving them all these fine words shall we try and do something
for the policeman? I do want to know what is a service oriented
police?
Have
they been able to give some respite to the family of Moinuddin
Haider’s brother? Have they caught hold of the murderer
of his brother? He was after all some one’s father, some
one’s husband and a lot more he was a human being from what
I know of him.
I
have a lot to say and may be some day I will say much more while
analyzing the doings of a police that is none of the fine words
that the Chief Executives order says they are. Shall anyone stand
up and be counted? Viva la police, viva la reforms and viva la
NRB!
The
writer is a former Federal Secretary, Government of Pakistan
