Attacks on law enforcers

Terrorism reared its ugly head yet again on Friday evening in a tragic incident in which three policemen and a minor boy were slain in a drive-by shooting in the Awami Colony area of Korangi Town in Karachi. The attack was merely the latest in a series of audacious acts of violence targeting law enforcement personnel, many of them carried out in broad daylight. In February, two senior police officers had been killed in a terrorist attack in Lahore followed by the killings of four police officers in a gun attack in Dera Ismail Khan. Then in April, four Rangers personnel were killed in a militant attack in the Dera Ghazi Khan area. In June, seven policemen lost their lives in a suicide blast in Quetta and four police personnel were gunned down in the SITE area of Karachi. The ominous trend continued in July in Balochistan with the slaying of the District Police Officer of Killa Abdullah and the murder of a Superintendent of Police in Quetta along with his three armed guards. And unless we take urgent measures to stem the rot, there is no reason to believe the situation will get any better.

Firstly, it is imperative that the police departments in all the provinces, and their inspectors-general, be allowed to function free of political influence. Appointments must be made on merit and the department’s only objective must be to serve the interests of the public and not those of the provincial governments. Politicisation of the department will simply allow the government to pack it with its political supporters whose objective would be to please the government rather than serve the public. The current tussle between the Sindh government and the inspector-general, therefore, is an example of how not to run the police department. Secondly, it is crucial that the police department build an image of public service and gain the confidence and trust of the people as it is only with the help of the public that it can effectively deal with terrorists. Thirdly, the country’s intelligence agencies must step up their information-gathering on terrorist groups and focus on infiltration of these groups. Proper investment on surveillance systems to protect our cities will help improve the law and order situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2017.

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