Fair elections: Why weren’t the heads of police posts reshuffled too?

Candidates say officers in charge of chowkis should also have been switched around.

LAHORE:

While officers from the highest ranks (such as regional police officers) to the lowest (moharrars) have been transferred across the province ahead of the elections in an attempt to allay fears that they will interfere in the democratic process, officers in charge of police posts have not.

The additional sub-inspectors and sub-inspectors who head these posts wield a lot of influence. They have the authority to register FIRs, for example, and can be particularly powerful in rural areas.

There are more than 1,000 police posts located in 706 police station jurisdictions across Punjab. Lahore alone has 42 police posts, while there are at least 60 at the provincial borders.

“Free, fair, and transparent elections will be the prime responsibility of the police over the next five weeks. Officers will have to work day and night. The police can have nothing to do with any political party,” said Inspector General of Punjab Police Aftab Sultan after the police reshuffle a few weeks ago.

The aim of the reshuffle was to ensure that any officer posted to an area in order to consolidate or boost a certain politician’s influence in that area would be unable to interfere in the election campaigning or in the polling itself. But why not ensure the same for police posts, ask some candidates.

“Chowki in-charges in rural areas act virtually as SPs. How can impartial enforcement of law in the villages be ensured when the chowki in-charges are those who were appointed for political reasons by the previous government?” said Azhar Ahmad Khan Yousafzai, an independent candidate for a National Assembly seat from Mailsi.

A senior police officer who recently took over a key position in the caretaker setup said that the reshuffle was made on merit, with most police officers who had already been working in the field transferred to different field positions. But while officers commanding ranges, districts, cities, circles and police stations were reshuffled, chowki in-charges were not.

“While there is no doubt that police officers at the top, who can influence events the most, have been transferred, there is also no denying that chowki in-charges hold a great amount of sway in rural areas of the province,” said Abubakar Mushtaq Virk, a PTI candidate for a National Assembly seat from Sheikhupura.

Caretaker Home Minister Tariq Pervaiz, a former police officer, said that the provincial government had left it to the IG, DPOs and RPOs “to ensure impartiality in policing by transferring police officers wherever they deemed fit, at all levels”.

A senior police officer with the Punjab Police Operations Wing said that changes at the police post level could not be made due to a shortage of ASIs. However, this does not explain why they could not have been reshuffled.

A spokeswoman for the IG’s office said that senior officers would be watchful of the performance of the ASIs and SI heading police posts.

“When there are vigilant officers at the top, policing staff at the bottom acts in accordance with the law. But a watchful eye will be kept on chowki in-charges and their activities and anyone found flouting the law will be changed immediately,” said Nabeela Ghazanfar, director of public relations for the IG.

DIG Rai Tahir was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2013.