Police glad to pass the buck on jurisdiction

Even terror attacks and serious accidents get ignored over precinct disputes.

LAHORE: Uncertainty about police stations’ jurisdiction has been causing problems for citizens who criticise the police for not making police stations’ boundaries clear.

There have been many instances of police refusing to visit a crime scene because it lies in uncertain territory. Police station A asks the complainant to approach police station B to register an FIR and police station B asks the complainant to register an application with police station A.

The contentious areas include the Minar-e-Pakistan area, where jurisdictions of Lorry Adda, Ravi Road and Shafiqabad police stations appear to overlap. Civil Lines police station and Race Course police station have also had a long-standing dispute over jurisdiction. In the Bhati Gate area, Qila Gujjar Singh, Gowalmandi and New Anarkali police stations keep on transferring responsibility to one another.

There is an area on Samanabad Road where Samnabad and Gulshan Ravi police station precincts overlap. Walton Road near the Factory Area police station and Nishtar Colony police station, Awan Town near the Hanjerwal police station and Sabzazar police station, parts of the Canal Road near the Mughalpura police station and Mustafabad police station, and blocks in Johar Town near Sattukatla police station and Johar Town police station are other problem areas.

This reluctance to deal with complaints is not limited to petty crime but also extends to serious problems like terrorist attacks. When the mourning procession on the chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain was attacked on January 25, the New Anarkali and Bhati Gate police station refused to acknowledge jurisdiction. Days later, high-ups finally assigned the case to New Anarkali police.

When a gas cylinder exploded at a CNG station near Ali Raza Abad, three people were killed.

Their families were stranded at Jinnah Hospital, along with Rescue 1122 and Edhi ambulances, for nine hours while Chuhng and Raiwind police argued over jurisdiction. The case finally landed in Chuhng police’s lap.

An Edhi ambulance driver, Muhammad Asad said that he had been a frequent witness to such altercations. “When Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was set to visit Badshahi Masjid some three months ago, we received a call informing us that a body lay at a park near Yadgar Chowk. Three cars belonging to each of Tibbi City police, Lorry Adda police and Ravi Road police arrived at the spot but none took responsibility for the body,” Asad recounted. The body was finally moved to the Lorry Adda police station eight hours later.

Usman Umer, a resident of Kharak, was robbed of his mobile phone by three men on a motorbike on the Canal Road “near the turn towards Shuakat Khanum hospital”. “I was sent in circles by the Hanjerwal and Sattukatla police. It was only after a reference to a senior police officer that I was able to lodge a theft application of theft at the Sattukatla police station,” Umer told the Tribune.

Police officials blame the Revenue Department for the confusion. SP Operations Allama Iqbal Town Captain (retired) Romail Akram said, “The demarcation of limits has not been revised since Sher Shah Soori’s time, in 1545.” The officer said that there was a conflict between old records and new construction.

“The police have had to call patwaris numerous times to ascertain boundaries of police stations,” he said. Akram said it was a pity that complainants had to face problems in registering FIRs, “The confusion over blurred boundaries is no excuse. Even if the FIR is lodged with the wrong police station, it can later be shifted to the investigation officer concerned.”

To solve the problem, the government needs to equip the police with GPRS, he said. “Google can also be given the project,” he suggested.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2011.