We should analyse our systems first before drawing parallels with real democracies.
KARACHI: This is with reference to Zoha Waseem’s article “The dilemma posed by police power” published in The Express Tribune on March 26, which draws parallels between the policing systems of the US and Pakistan. The US has community-oriented policing (COP) whereas Pakistan’s politicians have never changed the autocratic police system imposed upon the people of the subcontinent (by the British colonial rulers) in order to enslave the masses and control them through a chain of command (in the police). Pakistan has not followed in the footsteps of progressive democratic states by introducing community policing, which is representative of the local population. In the US, the sheriff is elected by the people directly for a term of two to four years (varies in different states). In Pakistan, the police service is centralised, coming under the centre’s jurisdiction. Hence the gap between the people and the state has deepened because the police is an effective instrument used by the executive to crush any opposition or popular uprising.
In short, our country’s judicial and police system is based on the Government of India Act of 1935, which the British imposed on our nation to dominate the locals smoothly. In the 1990s, Nawaz Sharif floated the idea of a metropolitan police system for Karachi comprising local representation. I wonder what happened to that proposal and why the plan was shelved. Later, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf also included community policing in his seven-point agenda when he took power, but sadly did not implement it.
This shows that when in power, anybody and everybody is intoxicated by the control they get over the population through a centralised police system. And rather than change the system for the better, our political leadership on both sides of the fence has used it in its favour. You can see this in the Model Town incident and in other parts of the country as well. We should analyse our systems first before drawing parallels with real democracies. Pakistan is unfortunately a plutocracy, not a democracy.
Muhammad Ali Shah
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2015.
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