Remembering our heroes

The commemoration of Shuhada’s Day by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) police not only acknowledges the sacrifices of the heroes of the police, it also signifies the need for more protective protocols for the force, which is the first line of defence against terrorists and criminal elements, and often ends up becoming the victim of these savages.

Owing to the poor image the police suffers from, along with its less-than-satisfactory relations with the media, its achievements and sacrifices often remain unnoticed. Hardly a day goes by when one doesn’t hear of a policeman falling victim to terrorists or criminals. The increased killings of policemen depict the growing intolerance in society, its violent tendencies, as well as flaws in police training and supervision, and shortage of protective gear. The current state of affairs necessitates the redefining of the police-public equation. Owing to the rising violence, policing has emerged as the most hazardous of professions and requires improved training, security protocols and zero tolerance for improvised explosive devices (IED) and weapons.

Police personnel are the custodians of human rights of all citizens; but what about their own right to life. After joining the police, why aren’t they treated as equal members of society and why are they persistently targeted? In civilised societies, the death of a single policeman is considered a challenge to the state and a blow to society.

Owing to the geographical proximity to Afghanistan and Fata, the K-P police has faced the major brunt of terrorist onslaught. Around 1,511 policemen from K-P have sacrificed their lives since 1970. Between 1970 and 1980, K-P lost 44 policemen. The figure went up to 78 between 1981 and 1990, while there were 139 police martyrdoms between 1991 and 2000. Since 9/11, 1,214 policemen from the province have sacrificed their lives. With 201 killings in 2009, the K-P police recorded its highest ever losses in a year. The Peshawar police alone has sacrificed 422 policemen since 1970. More recently, K-P police lost 86 personnel in 2012 and 126 in 2013, of which five were victims of suicide attacks, 26 of IED attacks and 48 were shot dead. Last year, 68 policemen were killed in 82 attacks.

Since 1979, the Balochistan police has lost 650 policemen, including 239 personnel of the Quetta police. Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta have registered a rising trend of police casualties. As majority of such cases are filed against unknown assailants, therefore, without cooperation of the community at large, it’s difficult to trace the killers.

Around 90 per cent of the martyrs of the K-P police were in their thirties and left behind an average of two kids less than 10-years-old, along with young widows and elderly parents, who undoubtedly are going through great psychological turmoil.

The escalated violence against the police is not just a phenomenon limited to the big cities; it can also be seen in the districts bordering Fata. Most policemen were either shot dead or were victims of IED attacks. In this regard, training is an important area that needs special attention. Training modules used by the police need updating and for this it is imperative to carry out a needs assessment. Self-protection, physical fitness, the use of firearms and orientation with respect to explosive devices need to be made priorities during police training.

Besides the important area of training, there also has to be focus on the correctional aspect, which is missing. In the exceptional cases where inquiries are carried out after police officers have been killed, there is a tendency to shift responsibility towards those belonging to the lower ranks of the police force. To put a stop to this tendency, it is imperative to assess the modus operandi involved in the killings with case studies being carried out to analyse the crime.

If we take a look at police casualties in our neighbouring countries, we would find that Afghanistan has one of the highest police casualty rates, primarily attributed to inadequate training and low morale of personnel. According to the Brookings Institution, 3,290 Afghan policemen were killed between 2007 and 2010. According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, 867 policemen were killed in 25 states in 2011, of which 671 deaths resulted from accidents, 132 in operations against terrorists, 50 in encounters with criminals and 12 during crowd management. Compared with the police casualties suffered in 2010, the 2011 figure saw a decrease of 2.7 per cent.

In India, to pay homage to those who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, different police services at the state level commemorate special days. Likewise in Pakistan, all police services should observe a Police Shuhada Day. This will help improve the image of the police and motivate those with a will to serve the nation to join the police force. In cities like Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar, martyrs’ monuments have been established to pay tribute to our fallen heroes. However, such memorials are located in police lines areas, restricting the access of the common folk to these places. Such monuments should also be established at public places.

Coming to the compensation provided to families of fallen policemen, it is commendable that despite financial constraints, the K-P government has increased the compensation from Rs500,000 to Rs3,300,000. Between 2008 and 2014, the K-P police paid Rs1,649.5 million to such families. During the last four years, Rs387.7 million have been spent on the purchase of plots for families of martyrs and Rs36.54 million have been spent on the education of their children. Recently, the Balochistan government revised the compensation package for martyrs’ families, which varies according to the rank of the fallen policeman, with Rs4 million being the minimum payment, and Rs10 million the maximum.

The compensation package for the martyrs of the Punjab police has also recently been revised, with the heirs of constables receiving Rs5 million, those of ASIs and sub-inspectors receiving Rs7million, inspectors and DSPs Rs9 million, SPs Rs12 million and families of personnel belonging to the DIG rank and above receiving Rs15 million. The sons and daughters of fallen police heroes are also offered employment opportunities, along with free education up to the post-graduate level.

The federal government should also extend generous financial packages to the heirs of martyrs through the National Police Foundation. This will help bring some uniformity to the compensation rates paid to the families since every province has a different compensation structure. Other provinces should follow the example being set by the K-P police and observe a Shuhada’s Day for police martyrs. Heroes who protected us with their blood should be remembered. Otherwise, the feeble equation between the police and the public will continue to exist and there will be little recognition for the sacrifices of fallen policemen.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th,  2015.

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