Towards change: Omar Shahid Hamid stresses need to improve police dept

More than 500 officers have lost their lives since 1990s, he claims

KARACHI: Police should be depoliticised to avoid ‘unlawful’ orders of politicians and lawmakers, said police officer and novelist Omar Shahid Hamid on Saturday.

During an interactive session, titled ‘Crime, Investigation and Authorship’, he stressed the need for a proper criminal justice system for the long-term sustainability of the Karachi operation. The session was held at the British Deputy High Commission, Karachi.

Members of civil society organisations, writers and university students attended the session, which was organised by Pakistan Association of Universities of London Alumni (PAULA).

Hamidalso remarked that there is a dire need to reform the methods of police investigations. “Our police spend more time on operation not on investigation, which is the most important element to solve any case,” he said, adding that police do not have the capacity to launch a massive operation and they always require the help of the Rangers.

People such as Saad Aziz are quite dangerous, he remarked. “It takes a lot of time to trace such [sophisticated] terrorists,” he remarked, adding that they scientifically plan and then commit their nefarious activities.

Speaking about the violence against police officers, he said that around 500 officers have lost their lives since the 1990s. “The police were already facing backlash from militants of the banned outfits before the Karachi operation. It would be difficult for the police to also fight against gangsters and militants without proper training, equipment and resources,” he remarked.

In his talk, Hamid drew a parallel between crime investigation systems in United Kingdom and Pakistan. “We are a hundred times more recessive while they [UK government] have invested in the system and brought in new technologies,” he opined.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2017.