Under attack since start of 2014, police officials demand equipment to combat violence. PHOTO: FILE
January has proven to be one of the deadliest months for policemen in Karachi. The Sindh government and police high-ups, to save the lives of those who guard the city, have issued a number of instructions to the police department.
The police departments have been told that no police mobile or motorcycle will be allowed to go for patrolling or snap-checking unless they have a partner. Problem is, more often than not, the police stations do not have enough manpower to assign partners - one reason being that policemen at almost all stations are also deployed for VIP duty, events and frequent rallies.
They’ve also been told that the officials must be wearing bulletproof vests at all times. Again, the problem is that there are not enough vests at each station. “My police station has around 70 personnel but we have only three mobiles, one motorcycle and half a dozen bulletproof jackets to work with,” said a recently suspended SHO of a police station in district South. “I was suspended after one of my jawans was killed while on duty on a motorcycle without a bulletproof jacket. They [high-ups] questioned me as to why the deceased was sent into the field alone without a bulletproof jacket? But answer me this - when I do not have enough mobiles, motorcycles and jackets, how was I supposed to provide them the equipment and that too in pairs?”
According to the suspended SHO, when the attack took place, two of the police mobiles were on ‘intizam duty’ while the remaining mobile van and motorcycle were in the field. “If the (higher-ups) want to implement these orders, then they have to provide us with enough mobiles, motorcycles and jackets, so that we can send our men fully equipped and in pairs.”
Low morale
By January 26 of this year, 26 police officials lost their lives in attacks targeting law enforcers. This figure includes the once bigwig of the force, anti-terror officer SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan. But mostly, it’s the lower-rank officials who end up paying the price for the presence of rampant criminal elements in the city.
The death of their comrades is not the only blow to the officers’ morale - they also lament that their seniors have let them down. “We cannot meet the prime minister or chief minister personally and convince them to give us the required resources before launching an operation,” said a lower-rank policeman of district West. “It is our senior officers who should convey to the government to start the operation only when it has fulfilled its promises of providing us the basic equipment.”
Taking a jab at the post-attack statements by the senior officers, such as “We will fight till the last drop of our blood”, a junior cop said that words no longer motivated them. “These filmy dialogues are not encouraging us. The high-ups cannot imagine what is happening with us in the field as they are confined to their rooms,” he said, while talking to The Express Tribune. “If the high-ups continue to only issue statements instead of taking action on our behalf, the day is not far when the police force will be completely demoralised - not by the attacks but by the disloyalty of our senior officers - and go on strike.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2014.
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One need not be a brain surgeon to figure out that police can't fight with criminals who have better weapons than them. What politicians are doing about providing police better weapons?