Pakistan: Sikander teaches Nisar a lesson

One armed man, Sikandar, broke the myth of the special security arrangement in Islamabad. The man, whether insane or a terrorist, not only crossed the many layers of security check posts but reached the heart of the metropolis in a car with a machine gun, Kalashnikov and a sack full of ammunition. For full five hours the drama was seen on television throughout the world. Many are asking the question: what if there were a dozen armed men playing the same drama in various parts of the city? Sikandar was not hiding inside a building and threatening to blow a school full of children or a hospital full of patients if he was attacked or tried to be arrested. He had with him his wife and two children whom he used as human shield and even that not very effectively. He often strayed away from them and gave enough space to the sharpshooters, if there had been any, to shoot him in the legs without hurting his family.. Sharpshooters are a necessary part of any city police who, as a last resort, shoots anyone who holds a building or any place and holding people hostage. One of the many questions teasing the mind is how could the PPP man break the police circle and go near Sikandar at all. Another question: why was there not enough police force to drive away the people crowding the place since any shooting by the armed man could have ended the lives of the onlookers. The interior minister explanation that he had ordered that no one should be hurt and the police refrained from taking action because of this particular order does not seem believable. Sikandar was yards away from his children and wife when Zamrud Khan made a dash at him. At such a distance, any man who had done some target shooting could have shot the culprit in the legs without endangering the wife and children. Such a drama would not have been allowed in the capital of any country and there would have been preparations and arrangements to meet such eventualities even if that state was not involved in a full blown war against terrorism. Men such as Sikandar cannot do real harm but they can make the security staff look inept and stupid which Sikandar did. It made the Islamabad Police the laughing stock of the world and encouraged the terrorists when they saw the ineffectiveness of the law enforcing agencies there. It, however, gave a wake up call to the government, especially, the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan. If he is not ready to roll some heads in the police department after the incident; whatever, he says in press conferences will be hardly credible. The interior minister must have devised a very good system to fight terrorism but with the present unprofessional attitude of the police force, it is not going to work: even a good system needs good men and women to run it. Chaudhry Nisar can be given the benefit of doubt that he as yet does not know the individuals commanding the police force but this cannot go on forever; he has to show some performance. He has to bring the law enforcing agencies throughout the country in shape and if the Islamabad police force, under his very nose, cannot be geared up to face the challenges, how can the nation expect him to make improvements in the provinces where the police is not even under his direct control. Sikandar has taught a valuable lesson. He in his own way has told the whole country how unwilling, inept the whole Islamabad police department was and how it was not ready to face the security problems which were expected to increase if the PML-N government started a serious operation against the terrorists. If Islamabad Police is so inept who bad things can be in the police departments in the provinces. Sikandar challenged the writ of the state and all Islamabad police could do was follow him and tap dance around him wherever he stopped. Here is the crux of the matter: a) Islamabad police is not well-trained to carryout ordinary daily duties; b) it has no leadership within the department; c) it is not trained to deal with lone gunman gone berserk; d) it definitely has no training to carryout operation in a synchronised manner in the face of terrorism; e) it does not have sharpshooters to single out the culprits and take advantage of the chances to shoot them without harming ordinary citizens; f) in-charges at different levels in the departments are apparently hesitant to target could-be terrorists for fear of retaliation. The remedy is simple: high-ups who have gone up the ladder without showing unusual performance should be, at least, taken off field positions. Educational qualifications and past records of all high and low police officials should be checked and anyone found wanting should be fired. The training at the police academy needs to be improved with special emphasis on dealing with terrorists. All officials should be given refresher courses to make them aware of the modern techniques. Modern weapons and gear should be provided to all policemen. It should be done all over the country not just Islamabad as without doing that we cannot fight the war against terrorism.