Lacking practicality

Letter January 23, 2018
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claims in a statement that he is against police encounters

KARACHI: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, recently claimed in a statement that he is against police encounters and that they should be banned across the country as they offer no real solution. The statement came after public outrage over the notorious staged police encounter led by then SSP Malir Rao Anwar that resulted in the killing of a youth from South Waziristan. The PPP chairman however did not give an alternative to police encounters as circumstances would be different for each case. Despite the fact that fake police encounters have not only led to the loss of innocent lives but they have also been used by the police to mask their heinous activities, the proposed ban is impractical unless concrete reforms replacing encounters are introduced in the police department.

Fareed Zaman

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2018.

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