Pakistan: Expect Pindi like tragedies

It should surprise us not that senior police officials ran away from the troubled spot when the participants of the procession started firing on the worshippers in a mosque in Rawalpindi last Friday; such acts of selfless bravery by police officials have been observed in other parts of the country as well. Neither should it surprise us that local government officials, in spite of ban on use of loudspeaker, did not stop the management of a mosque from using the sound-amplifier through which the hate speech was being delivered and which ultimately became the excuse for the murderous violence: The police all over the country is notorious for not forcing compliance of government orders. Nor is it shocking that Rawalpindi police was unable to disarm the members of the crowd moving ahead of the Friday procession, in spite of ban on carrying arms in the city--- the attack was started by the arm-bearers in that crowd moving ahead of the procession. Neither should anyone be surprised that there were not enough cops or members of other agencies to intervene in case of violence; though, the mosque was officially declared a sensitive spot with reference to the Friday procession. Similar incidents have happened from time to time in the rest of the country. We should thank our lucky stars or the militants and the rioters who did not target more sites for their terrorist activities; the chances are that they wouldn\'t have met much resistance. Why should we, however, expect anything different when the governments\' machinery, both provincial and government, mostly comprise men and women who have been appointed after bribing or using the influence of their relatives. The police department, like most departments, in almost all provinces, are said to contain even men and women appointed in spite of their long crime sheets in police stations; some even have been convicted by courts. And like all departments there is no dearth of fake degree-holders in police. And like in all departments, except the armed forces, the police department does not give proper training to new appointees. Even if the police does arrange for training, the competence of the appointed trainees is usually so low that they wouldn\'t be able to benefit from it. There also is no weapon with police personnel to match that of the hardened criminals or terrorist; the cops usually have no government vehicles to use during the performance of their duties; their pay is so low that one could even use it as an argument to justify the corruption by cops. There are no proper laboratories or labs manned by appropriately qualified and experienced individual for forensic investigations. And to top it all, the police departments in all provinces are politicised to the extreme. Officials in police department usually don\'t owe their allegiance to the state or the province but to one or another political party or to the individuals in power. The police officers and lowly cops obey all illegal orders from above to stay in their lucrative positions, get promotions or avoid termination. Efficiency, better education qualifications, experience, clean past, dedication to job are all aspects related to merit and merit is the only thing missing in the considerations when making fresh appointments or ordering promotions. It is money or connections that count in these matters. We would be wrong in expecting different from our police and other government departments than what they did in contributing towards the Rawalpindi tragedy if the above situation is not changed while appointing and promoting individuals on considerations other than merit. Policing, especially in the modern age, is costly; there are countries which spend as much money on their police as they do on their defence and recruit as morally and physically fit individuals in the police as they do in their armed forces. Our rulers have to change their attitudes too, the police department is not a necessary evil needed to scare the public of the power of state; it is a tool to help the ordinary people against lawbreakers. Police departments are the first line of defence against violence inside any country. Cops in the modern world are trusted by the common people; they feel physically secure in the presence of police; their first call in distress is to the police station. In Pakistan police is a source of fear; Pakistanis feel insecure when their cops are present; they believe they cannot even register a complaint in the police station unless they have money to bribe the staff there. That is not to say that there are no honest individuals among cops but they are far between and as such not effective. Unless the police departments all over the country are rehashed and re-manned with honest, qualified, dedicated, well-trained, well-equipped and well-paid staff; such incidents as the Rawalpindi tragedy should not surprise us; rather, we should expect more bloodshed caused mostly by the incompetence, non-dedication, dishonesty of our highly politicised police.