Driving the Metro Bus into a wall

Mian Sahib, we stand with you for the sake of democracy, however for your own sake, stand by yourself.

The scenes of the Lahore Police going on a murderous spree in Model Town, shooting and torturing, looting and plundering, was amongst the most obscene things that we have witnessed, in a very strong field. The police in Lahore ‘murdered’ people, the emphasis on the word murder is necessary. The extensive video footage does not suggest at any point, that the Police officers were under grave and imminent danger themselves, which is the legal standard, both international and domestic, for the use of lethal force. Much lament has been done, and much more should and will follow.

Let us get a few things clear at the outset. Dr Tahirul Qadri’s politics (which I personally find thoroughly unappealing and dangerous) has absolutely nothing to do with this incident. Secondly, it is ‘the’ most violent outburst by the Punjab Police in a very, very long time and the parallels being drawn are inexact (even at the height of the lawyers’ movement and Commando’s repression, to which I am a personal witness, the Punjab police did not use direct live ammunition). Thirdly, the faults of Qadri, etc. cannot be equated with murder by the state, the old distinction between the crimes of the Pirate and those of the Emperor.

The easy theory is that the Punjab Police consist of callous, corrupt and now it seems murderous thugs. Essentially, there is something inherently vicious and crooked about the Punjab Police. All of us can go to sleep in peace now, since we have at least identified the problem, and can go about the solution by sacking the delinquent officers. The problem with this theory is the problem with most easy theories; it is wrong. A few hundred officers of the Punjab Police did not spontaneously have a psychotic meltdown and embarked on a shooting bender. The Punjab Police are not an independently occurring phenomenon; it is a part of the whole. The whole is the Punjab government, whose primary qualities are ‘efficiency’ and ‘delivery’, ‘iron hands’, etc.



The Punjab government has more than a three-fourth majority in the provincial assembly. Sixth year in government with political space in Lahore and Punjab largely uncontested, the Police, along with other bureaucracy, have made the utilitarian choice of aligning themselves with the ruling power, the PML-N (The city of Karachi makes Sindh a more complex calculation and distinguishable). The chief minister interviews District Police Officers (DPOs) and City Police Officers (CPOs) himself and handpicks them. The narrative about the Punjab Police being ‘out of control’ and acting with ‘impunity’ overlooks the significant detail of the Punjab Police being the most micromanaged police in the country. The IG Police has less discretion in transfers and postings than the other IGs, and we are told that this is because of the sterling virtues of the ever-vigilant chief minister, Mian Sahib the younger, who wants to be in the loop.

The police that we saw torturing and killing in Model Town was a weak, defeated police. They were acting like the cadre of a political party, because the Metro Bus model of government demands ‘efficiency’ and ‘loyalty’. They might have gone overboard, and been more loyal to the crown than the King, since this is the only game in town. The Punjab Police are more brutal than its K-P or Balochistan counterparts, since in Al Bunjab, the police are still the preferred instrument of inflicting violence by the ruling power elite, whereas in conflict areas of K-P and Balochistan, the monopoly over violence has been lost and diffused over different actors. This is not to say that the other provinces do not have systemic state violence or more of it, just to emphasise that the political government in Punjab has more control over it than the other provinces.

The younger Mian Sahib runs the province through bureaucracy, power point presentations and Turkish ideas and does not bother with engaging with most of his elected representatives. In doing so, he not only ignores his party members and makes them irrelevant, he also weakens the bureaucracy. Lest, we forget, it is the service of the state, not of the government (which by extension means the PML-N in Punjab). A police and bureaucracy handpicked by Mian Sahib himself means a few blue-eyed officers and a cadre of those who are simply scared of making the wrong move.

Mian Sahib’s model has the consequence of breeding a nexus between bureaucracy and political actors. Exhibit A: the now deposed Capital City Police Officer’s (CCPO) brother is an elected member of the provincial assembly of the PML-N from Lahore. One doesn’t know the brothers in question personally, and both of them might be fine gentlemen, however, must Mian Sahib utilise his services in Lahore? Could he not have been posted to any other city, perception of being apolitical, neutrality and all that jazz?

Mian Shahbaz Sharif who never sleeps, is on top of things, did not know that an operation in Model Town of all places was underway for hours and took another few hours to react. It should insult any thinking person’s intelligence to believe this.

The buck stops with Mian Shahbaz Sharif. The credit for the flyovers does not go to the masons and the contractors since we are repeatedly told that Mian Sahib is the ever present Superintendent. Well, the bad with the good, then. Far be it for me to insinuate, Mian Sahib directly sanctioned any of this; he wouldn’t. However, he has built up an inner cadre of loyalists (both from the bureaucracy and very few politicians) whose primary task in life is to serve at the pleasure of Mian Sahib and hence provided the enabling environment for this mayhem.

Mian Shahbaz Sharif has to go about the business of governing the province through elected representatives and let the police and bureaucracy function independently, while of course, maintaining the ultimate supervision. Mian Sahib has to learn to let go of some power, to trust institutions and not individuals only. Mian Sahib, you sir, are not going to talk your way out of this. Act, go beyond optics, display humility, accept responsibility, and take action against the culpable and then move on to have the serious debate on local government and civil service reform. While you are at it, get rid of those like Rana Sanaullah as well (at least as the public faces of your government).

Any attempts to derail democracy will and should be fiercely resisted. You have the mandate of the people, respect it, for starters, by not killing them. The Metro Bus is driving into a wall. The elder Mian Sahib has once spectacularly snatched defeat from the jaws of comprehensive victory in the last term. Mischief is afoot again. We stand with you for the sake of democracy, however for your own sake, stand by yourself.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2014.

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