Cops vs robbers

Many argue that the problem lies with the fact that almost no locals are employed in Karachi’s police force

We are told that in a startling incident of crime by the guardians of the law, senior-most police officers were caught on tape committing a burglary in Rawalpindi.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Zaigham Abbas, Station House Officer (SHO) Nadeem Abbas and Sub-Inspector Risalat had led a contingent of policemen to the house of Waleed Khan, the cousin of a man accused of murder. While they could not find the accused, they did take away at least 10 tolas (or around 125 grams) of gold and Rs0.5 million in cash from the house. The whole incident was recorded on a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, leading to registration of the case.

Not surprisingly, the resident was not served justice despite passage of two months, but finally succeeded in having a case registered against the officers under Section 342. No officer or personnel involved in the raid has so far been arrested. This is nothing new. The same story continues to be replayed all over the country.

In Pakistan, sometimes there is little difficulty in trying to distinguish between the police and the criminals because much criminal activity in any locality is conducted with the patronage of the area police. We are told that many local criminals are patronised by the local police station in exchange for a share in the booty. Anecdotal evidence by many former police persons tells the same story. And yet, the government looks the other way.

We have crossed 70 years as a country but our biggest problem — the criminalisation of our police force — continues to grow and successive governments have been unable to fight it. The last serious attempt was made during the regime of General Pervez Musharraf but all efforts to make the police accountable were thwarted by our powerful bureaucracy, which does not want to see the police come under the control of elected representatives.

Unless we fix our policing system, all other efforts at anti-corruption will be a waste. There is a memorable scene in the Indian movie Jolly LLB where an auction scene takes place with a police official selling transfers and postings to lucrative police stations in Delhi. It is an open secret that this scene is played out in real life in many parts of Pakistan and the rest of South Asia where police officials bid for police stations from where they in turn make several times the sum they have paid to their superiors.

All this has been going on for several decades now. Possibly the most corrupt police service is that of Karachi where billions are made by officials under various guises. This includes bhatta (protection money), payments for illegal water and gas connections, payments for encroaching on public and private land, payments for illegal businesses as well as for legal businesses (only the rates differ), payment for protection, etc. The list is endless.

It is said that for most illegal activities in Karachi, which include the infamous mafias — the power mafia, the water mafia, the land mafia, etc, there is always the patronage of the local police station — at a price. And then there are the police stations themselves. One is scared to go there. Such is their reputation.

When was the last time any responsible official went into a police station to check who was being kept there? I recall the then Sindh chief justice, Nasir Aslam Zahid, would raid police stations and recover people who were not supposed to be kept there but were being confined there only to extract money for their families. Is this not akin to modern-day kidnapping for ransom?

The traffic police in Karachi is no better. They have perfected a system of allowing all sorts of vehicles into the city at any time they wish only after paying into a token system. Once the owners and drivers of water and oil tankers, heavy vehicles, dumpers, etc, can pay the local police and obtain a token, they can drive as they wish in the city. They will not be fined or hindered in any way.

There are many who argue that the problem lies with the fact that almost no locals are employed in Karachi’s police force. It is almost entirely staffed by outsiders. Different elected representatives were given opportunities to reform the police system and base it on the law but instead chose to abuse it.

Let us look for solutions. Otherwise we will sink in this cesspool of corruption which is of our own making.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2017.

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