Police maintain order during celebrations

Incidents of hooliganism, harassment on Independence Day drop

LAHORE:

The Independence Day celebrations this year also passed peacefully, although maintaining the law and order and ensuring security for the celebrations of this level was an uphill task for the police.

The challenge was magnified even more as Muharram was also near.

Over the years, the celebrations of the national day appear to have lost their essence as it has been marred with incidents of hooliganism, one-wheeling, eve-teasing and firing into the air.

The essence of the day is to celebrate as well as make people aware of the history of the sacrifices given for the purpose and the horrors and miseries they had been facing under foreign rule.

However, the reckless behaviour of youth at large throughout the country on the occasion becomes a challenge for the authorities.

Gathering of large numbers of people on roads on the Independence Day, while supposed to be a matter of pride, has also turned out to be a liability.

Governments throughout the world encourage such events and public participation in them. However, the response of the youth for the last decade has made the government departments think differently. The challenges for police multiply on the occasion.

The police during normal days have to deal with random incidents of firing, rash driving and harassment. However, on Independence Day it appears a larger number of youngsters behave in a similarly manner.

Something optimistic this year is that the number of cases of hooliganism reported was less as compared to past years. One can raise an objection that police might have manipulated the data to claim better performance. However, the claims were ratified by the Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122 road traffic crashes data also. Rescue 1122 also shared that RTCs this Independence Day were lower than the previous year.

However, it may not be solely attributed to better management by the authorities. The coronavirus pandemic threat must have contributed to the trend. The authorities should also look into the tendency of indiscipline among the youth during public celebrations.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2020.