‘Fake encounters’ mar Dolphin Squad’s image

Personnel of elite security unit recently shot dead a shopkeeper

LAHORE:

In recent days, Dolphin Squad of Punjab Police once again emerged as being a trigger-happy force.

A shopkeeper was killed by a Dolphin Squad team in an alleged fake police encounter. Police on the other hand claimed that they were responding to a helpline 15 call. The shopkeeper along with three accomplices carrying firearms was allegedly trying to abduct a woman. On seeing the police team, the accused resorted to firing. Police responded in a similar fashion, killing the shopkeeper, they stated.

Analysis of the footage showing the police encounter raised serious doubts about Dolphin Squad and only demonstrated the trigger-happy approach of its personnel.

The force was formed after expenses of a large amount to meet international standards. However, Dolphin Squad is in fact ignoring its own standard operating procedures.

A former commander of Dolphin Squad told The Express Tribune that after complaints started piling up regarding abuse of power by officials, the force held refresher courses and exercises to teach maximum restraint to its officials.

The courses also taught the force different ways of dealing with suspects, which included chasing them and overpowering them to force them to surrender instead of shooting at them, he added.

He shared that as the police operate in crowded areas such as markets, where a suspect commits a crime, it is the responsibility of Dolphin Squad to avoid unnecessary firing and use other ways to overpower the accused who are on the run. During their training and courses, it is stressed that the Dolphin force personnel should exercise maximum restraint.”

In the video of the recent encounter in Liaquatabad area of Lahore, the force was clearly exposed as it could be seen that the Dolphin Squad team did not show restraint. The suspect was lying on the ground and Dolphin Squad officials had surrounded him. With a bit of patience and strategy, they could have forced him to surrender. However, they resorted to indiscriminate firing.

The video also exposed that shooting him dead was also an impulsive move of Dolphin Squad. Even if shooting at him had become inevitable, they could have just shot once or twice to leave him injured.

However, policemen could be seen repeatedly shooting a person who was lying helpless on the ground, begging for mercy. The inhumane act exposed lack of professionalism.

An independent inquiry into the matter would ascertain the facts related to the incident.

In March this year, members of a Dolphin Squad team were booked for the murder of an innocent citizen in Iqbal Town.

The team, in connivance with his opponents, had hatched a plan for the man’s murder. After shooting at him, Dolphin Squad had come up with a story that the suspect was on the run after a robbery. They claimed that they were responding to an emergency call and, when confronted, the victim had retaliated with gunfire. The team also came up with documents and an allegation of possession of a gun against the victim.

In the same month, Dolphin Squad officials injured a youth identified as Umar in Chung.

In January, the squad had shot and injured a shopkeeper, the victim of a robbery, while responding to a call on 15 at Abdali Chowk, Islampura.

Earlier, the squad injured a youth who went out to buy medicine for his ailing mother in Gulberg. The force also shot dead a woman in Naseerabad, a differently-abled person in Gulshan-e-Ravi and a youth on Band Road.

The top brass of Punjab Police should take serious notice of this trend of impulsive shooting by Dolphin Squad.

The department must realise that the Dolphin Squad officials had been provided guns to protect citizens. These weapons were not a licence to shoot people.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2020.