Cops playing robbers

ISLAMABAD:

Uniformed robbers are more dangerous than those who make no effort at concealing their true selves. They rob your confidence and the belief, among other things, in the very system put in place to protect people.

Earlier this week, an in-charge of a police station and his two subordinates were caught running an unwarranted police check post manned by impersonators at an entry point of the city at Tarnol. The officials would stop passengers on the pretext of a police checkup and then loot them.

Tarnol Police Station House Officer (SHO) Sattar Baig is currently on protective bail. However, he will soon be arrested and taken into physical custody by the Tarnol police in the multiple cases of robbery, fraud, bribery and violating job rules reported against him.

He might be convicted of the crimes by the court and put in jail. But what will happen then? Will it rid the police department of its very own robbers in uniform? Will it prevent such incidents from happening again?



No, it would not. The punishment meted to Baig and his accomplices will soon be forgotten and there would be more Baigs in the coming days as there have been in the past until the system itself is re-hauled and fixed.

Baig was posted to the area a few months back but the fake check post had been present before him. Police officials said it was set up by former SHO Tarnol Sub Inspector Fazlur Rehman.

The check point, from where four men and a woman impersonator in police uniforms were arrested, was set up by criminals in connivance with police officials.

Cops had a two-fold interest in the checkpoint. Firstly, they would get extra bucks in the form of bribes and share from the loot. Secondly, whenever pressured by seniors, they would be able to show their ‘good’ performance as they would often nab drugs and weapons smugglers at the checkpoint.



Tarnol is one of the most lucrative postings for SHOs in Islamabad. It is the main entry point into the capital and Rawalpindi city for all traffic from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

What Rehman started, Baig carried on. He was only ‘unlucky’ to get caught. And, this is not the only police checkpoint that was involved in robberies. A few months ago, a group of police officials was found involved in pick-pocketing at the Sabzi Mandi entry check post. What happened to them?

They were suspended only to resume their ‘work’ after a few days because from bottom to top, all police officials were not only aware of such activities but most were direct beneficiaries of the system.

Any police chief, if he is sincere at eliminating this menace from the department, will not only have to launch a massive clean up operation, he would need to put in place a system of checks and balances. Of course, as always, to do this is easier said than done.

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