Shooting to kill

The 21-year-old failed to stop when policemen asked him to, enough reason for them to shoot at him

The behaviour of the Karachi police highlights not only the high-handed approach it often employs, but also its abject disregard for human life and the rule of law. The recent killing of a 21-year-old man by the Gizri police, which mistook him for a criminal, is a case in point. The youngster, who was on a motorbike, failed to stop when policemen asked him to, reason enough for them to shoot at him, which proved fatal.

This is not the first time such an ‘encounter’ has taken place nor sadly will it be the last. We all know that the policeman gunning down motorcyclists for not stopping when asked to is the same man who earns his daily perks through bribes — offered as a fast-track out of trouble for other, more God-fearing motorcyclists who accept giving a bribe over receiving a bullet — ‘charmingly’ laid on the table as a means to ‘chai pani’. It is the same policeman who is nowhere to be found during phone-snatching incidents and the same policeman who turns a blind eye to the law-breaking antics of the SUV VIPs. He deploys ruthless tactics to, literally, ‘stop’ motorcyclists, but it does not occur to him to take effective measures to stop crimes of a much more fatal nature.

This, sadly, is the story of the Karachi police. What is also clear from this, as well as previous similar incidents, is that besides there being disregard for the rule of law, there is also little attention paid to the training of the city’s police force. The police often have to make split-second judgments in order to determine whether a speeding motorcyclist is a criminal or not, but is it really necessary to employ this shoot-to-kill practice that can result in the death of innocents? This is where the poor training of the police comes into the picture. The high-handed, often bordering on the arrogant, attitude of the police is also in urgent need for reform. That will only happen when policemen guilty of targeting innocent citizens are held accountable for their actions.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2016.

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