In Pakistan, incompetency of institutions, especially the government, is evident & the only organised one is the army
KARACHI: The siege against a gangster group in the Rajanpur area of Punjab includes 1,600 policemen facing stiff resistance from around 200 gangsters. These gangsters are deeply rooted in the villages of the area where vast lands and a sparse population help them in hiding and operating easily. Numerous previous attempts to subdue this gang ended with unfavourable results with the police returning unsuccessfully. The results are no different this time as, after some robust retorts, authorities are now seeking the army’s help to eradicate these gangsters. Once again, it has underlined the incompetency of our civil institutions. It’s not the army’s duty to fight gangsters; the army is there to secure borders but because of an incompetent police force, the army has to exceed its role. In every country, there’s an organisation that is responsible for this work and its personnel are trained competently to carry out their duties.
Here, in Pakistan, the incompetency of institutions, especially the government, is evident and the only organised one is the army. That is why they are called every time following any disaster to help civil organisations because they either aren’t competent or don’t have the resources. If there’s a fire getting out of hand or a collapse of building, the army is called; for relief operations after an earthquake or flood, the army is called. Be it a heatwave in Karachi or a drought in Thar, the army supplies rations and sets up medical camps. If the Karakoram Highway is blocked because of landslides, the army is called with heavy machinery to clear the mess. If there’s a sit-in in Islamabad, the army is called to secure sensitive installations around D-Chowk. For clean-up operations in Karachi and for the security of polio workers, the army is called and even for the security of “democratic” elections, army troops are called for security. Recently, census has been delayed because of unavailability of army personnel due to their involvement in Zarb-e-Azb.
The government doesn’t strengthened these institutions to enable them to fight disasters. The only solution they have is to call the army. This is a serious issue and needs to be taken up. The government should reform these organisations, train their personnel according to modern needs, give them an adequate budget and make them be able to fight modern-day challenges.
Abdul Moiz Malik
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2016.
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