Protectors of others left to fend for themselves

Policemen continue to remain vulnerable on and off duty

PESHAWAR: As law-enforcement agencies figure out new methods to deal with emerging patterns of urban violence in a post-military operation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the police has once again become a target.

Apart from the “round figure” of 1,200 policemen killed since 2006 in K-P, 14 have been gunned during 2016 with an alarming eight within the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station in the city.

Background briefings with senior police officials show that a failure at the policy level to identify the culprits has been one of the main reasons police officers find it difficult to protect themselves.

“We need to know who the enemy is and segregate rather than amalgamate,” an official said. He criticised a system in which saving the lives of those protecting citizens was well down the priority chain.

Getting tough on terrorism has probably reduced the crime rate, but has not managed to create an urban environment where citizens feel safe. The levels of urban violence have increased. Marked indicators show that while major threats have persisted in Fata, the brunt of violence is related to extortion and an increase in target killings in the city. Targeting the police is symbolic in the same way tribal maliks have been butchered for over a decade in a struggle for peace. At the same time, it also exploits the fear that residents of the most attacked city in the country continue to feel.

The jurisdiction of the Yakatoot police station is of particular interest in terms of demographics. Experts believe it is probably one of the most diverse in terms of ethnicities, religious groups with a marked sectarian divide and a base for minorities in the city.

They also believe it is one of the more congested localities to which people from other districts have migrated. The residents are either settlers who landed in the area when it was a peri-urban space outside the walled city as economic migrants or internally displaced people.

The accumulation of data from tenants residing in the city is now being utilised to come up with solutions to policing problems. Data collection and detection of crime patterns started in 2013 and is still being updated.

The political reaction to urban violence and crime mapping has been erratic and uncoordinated. Police officials complained of bureaucratic hurdles and legal glitches when it comes to solving their own problems.

“Peshawar is the only capital city of a province where police have no organised structure to keep them secure on duty,” claimed a senior official. Most police officials have been targeted while either going to work or heading back home.

Nasapa Flats, now converted into Sweets Homes, was a troubled area and a demand was put forward to purchase them when police were being targeted by the dozen. However, the idea could not materialise due to the same bureaucratic hurdles.

It is high time policymakers acknowledge and address the socio-economic disparities and direct efforts for the protection of a civilian-led policing mechanism in urban centres.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2016.