The writer is Executive Director News, Express News. He tweets @fahdhusain
fahd.husain@tribune.com.pk
Symbolism is important. But substance is key. The new counterterrorism force is a step in the right direction, and it also has the right optics at a time when all eyes are set to test the resolve of the leadership. The famed National Action Plan (NAP) was rolled out with great fanfare amidst hopes that Pakistan was finally ready to fight back. But then — as so often happens — the determination on display after the horrific December 16 attack, splintered into yawn-inducing committees.
They say governments work in slow motion. Fine. Let’s for a moment give them the benefit of doubt. Let’s assume that the committees are meeting regularly and honing the agenda to fight terror. Let’s also assume that solid work is being done to prepare the ground for substantive changes in policy; and that a sincere effort is being made to reform institutions to better equip them for the long war that lies ahead. All these assumptions, however, float gently on the premise that there indeed exists a thinking mind, and a guiding hand that is steering all these efforts in a synchronised manner. Without such a coherent leadership, all these committees and meetings, and all these random activity-generating events will ultimately collapse into a heap of half-baked clutter stinking of nothingness.
And herein lies the gnawing problem of strategic inadequacy, brought into sharp focus by the smartly turned out contingent of the counter-terrorism force. So it’s easy to raise a new police unit on modern lines, but not so easy to reform the existing moth-eaten police that pick up wives and children of people they cannot apprehend. It’s perhaps easy to have the army train a new batch of young and bright men and women untainted by the filth of the police culture, but not so easy to reform the thana and its demoralised, demotivated, dejected, untrained, uncouth, uncaring, staff. The trend that defines the leadership’s strategic inadequacy is crystal clear: it is easy to construct concrete wonders, not so easy to construct a modern syllabus; it is easy to buy new machinery for hospitals, not so easy to build easy-to-access health care structures for citizens; it is easy to computerise weapon licences and land records, not so easy to ensure modern education for each and every child.
The strategic inadequacy of the leadership stems not from shortage of resources, but from shortage of vision, and the will to force change by crushing inertia and smashing the awesome power of the status quo.
And this status quo stalks the land in police uniform, breaking bones, smashing skulls, lacerating backs, pulling nails, and spreading fear instead of safety and security. In every city of every province, police hunt down law-abiding citizens, brutalise innocent men, women and children, protect the powerful and the despicable while trampling on fundamental rights with delirious relish.
Pakistanis are ashamed of their police. Truly and terribly ashamed. And yet there is a deeply rich irony embedded within the velvety folds of this shame. This rotten, corrupt and incompetent force boasts the presence of some exceptionally talented men and women, whose bravery, courage and dedication to duty is genuinely inspiring. Hundreds of police officers and jawans have laid down their lives in the fight against terror, and thousands have suffered life-altering injuries. It is the same force that produced heroes like Safwat Ghayur, and the same force that now protects our schools and colleges.
So why blame these men and women in uniform if they are not trained properly? Why blame them if they have no clue about service to citizens and protection of the weak and the vulnerable? Why blame them if they have never been taught how to investigate crimes on modern lines with proper forensics? Why blame them if they have absolutely no idea that torturing a person in custody is not just a violation of the law they have pledged to uphold, it amounts to ravaging the God-given rights of human beings?
It is the leadership of this country, and the culture that spawns its politics and priorities, that is solely responsible for creating, nurturing and then using this monster for its own purposes. Today if the leadership really wants us to believe that it is reforming itself before it can reform the country, it should prove it can reform the police. And to do this, the government does not have to reinvent the wheel. A recent report on how to reform the police spells out the task in clear terms. Penned by Tariq Khosa, one of the finest police officers this country has had, and published by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, the report reminds us that the Police Order 2002 can transform the police into a modern and accountable force if it is implemented with honesty and integrity. This, however, is the real problem. The leadership is always ready and willing to take cosmetic steps to reform the force, but never addresses the real issues that define the rot that is eating away this institution.
It is strategic inadequacy that makes the leaders opt for superficial reforms like hiking police salaries, providing them more vehicles and bringing in consultants to give them refresher courses. But the leaders do not have the will, the vision, the courage or perhaps, enough genuine desire for reform to take decisive steps like stopping the use of police for its politics. The leaders will stop short of this because by doing so, they believe they cut the political branch they sit on. No sirs, this they will not do. Never.
So the impressive counter-terrorism force may end up being a case of curing cancer with aspirin. The fight against terror and tyranny begins not in a police academy or an army barrack, but in the minds of those elected to lead us. Can they overcome their strategic inadequacy and shock us with their genuineness?
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2015.
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COMMENTS (8)
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@Anonymous: How can Imran Khan get rid of this corrupt system when he is part of it? He behaves like an autocrat who is above the law and even his own party is run like a dictatorship. Look at all the people in PTI like Kasuri, Shaikh Rasheed and countless opportunists and turncoats. Imran himself is more part of VIP culture than anyone else in Pakistan. We need to improve our system by working patiently and honestly - not destroying things the way they do in Arab countries. Democracy may not be a perfect system but work to strengthen it over time and I think we all be pleasantly surprised. If we can resist the urge to cry revolution whenever the elected government is not to our liking, the nation will never progress. Follow the imperfect system of democracy and work within the imperfect institutions and eventually this nation will get somewhere in a few decades but not through military and political coups.
The op-ed pages of the tribune are filled with those people who absolutely dont have any idea about the actual situation.
@sahibzada Ahmad: Why should political leaders take notice when the awam doesn't take notice and our media is so easily bought off. We are all part of the same sick society and unless everyone does her bit to fix the country, we can't just blame politicians. We all need to fix ourselves first. I see so many problems in Muslim society in Europe and North America and we can't blame others always when our own characters and families are to blame. Who cares about national action plans when each civilian should work on a personal fix plan and stop blaming others plan or just let's do our own bit plan.
Dear Fahad well written article and eye opening for our political slot. we have been reading the same stuff articles from long time but I think our leaders doesn't have take notice. They always prefer for highlighting their progress and portraying their photo sessions for wah wah in mega events. They are actually not visionary missionary or change makers who rules on heart and symbols of leadership quality.
Such anti-terror forces deal with the end product i.e. when terrorists strike. And by then its usually too late.
It is madrassas that produce religious extremists. What about reforming madrassas and bringing them into mainstream education system? What about having same education for all till every kid until 12 grade as is the norm in other countries?
Similarly, we need urgent reforms in judiciary,police, and must hold local body elections.
Alas, almost all state institutions are destroyed. It will take a long time to rebuild institutions, but our political elite has not even started yet. They have only acted upon one point in NAP and forgotten the other 18.
The so called new counter terrorism force will mean little if the roots of this sickness is not treated. The immediate need is to show that the NAP means something by taking action against open sympathizers of terror like Abdul Aziz and his wife of Lal Masjid and Mumtaz Qadri who is proving himself stronger than the State. Does the PML-N government have what it takes to do this......and poke Saudi Arabia in the eye ? I think the answer is known to all.
Nothing wrong with wishful thinking but strategic inadequacy stemming from incompetence and insincerity, as the author rightly pointed out, cannot be overcome unless this deeply entrenched kleptocracy is shaken from the outside. Who can or will do it is the question that needs to be answered.