Pakistan - Punjab Police - Beating the blind

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/

There is a newfound level of disgust that the citizens of Pakistan are now feeling for the Punjab police, a state outfit so notorious and so brutal it has done what no one thought one human being could do to another: it has roughed up and abused those most vulnerable and unable to help themselves. A group of blind people had gathered in front of the Lahore Press Club on Wednesday to protest against the fact that the government was not increasing the quota of disabled people in the jobs sector. Problems arose when the protestors decided to shift their demonstration to the Chief Minister’s House when it was made known that a VIP convoy was to pass through. It was then that the infamous Punjab police had a go at the demonstrators, pushing, shoving and beating the blind — yes, blind — protestors who kept falling to the ground due to their natural disability. The irony of this situation is that this atrocity happened on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. That is why these blind people chose that date, for it to coincide with a day that holds so much importance. What they experienced was a rude awakening: in Pakistan, no matter how defenceless you are, the Punjab police will bring you down to size.

There are no words to express the horror with which the news reports of this incident were seen on television. The savagery of the Punjab police’s thana (police station) culture is well known but we all thought these men in uniform drew the line somewhere. That is obviously not the case. Instead of being a bastion of security and protection for the rights of the citizens, the Punjab police is fast being recognised as no better than a gang of criminals willing to harass, kill and maim to their heart’s content. Police ‘encounters’ is just a fancy way of terming the extrajudicial killing of people the police and its sponsors want to get off their backs and the force seems to exist only to serve the VIPs. We citizens are nothing for them. What is the Punjab government doing? Sleeping? Do we not remember that the Punjab police killed 11 of Qadri’s workers back in June this year? Was any strict action taken? This time too, after the beating up of blind protestors, five policemen have only been suspended. Will this fix the problem or will it give them another hall pass to do this again? We all know the answer to that.