Adil Najam
Regular ATP readers know of my fascination with police cops – or ‘Tullas’ as we affectionately call them (here, here, and here; interesting pictures all, I promise).
Today, however, we write about cops doing their job right. Both in terms of nabbing those who do wrong and of encouraging others to do what is right. Excerpts from the APP story that appeared in Dawn (16 October, 2006) and elsewhere today:
ISLAMABAD: Senior Superintendent Police (traffic) Sultan Azam Temuri said here on Sunday that 149 VIPs have been fined over violation of traffic rules [in Islamabad] during the last seven months, among them were 50 federal ministers, 57 MNAs, 18 senators, 15 secretaries and nine provincial ministers. In an interview the SSP said that the efforts of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) to ensure safe road environment are bringing fruitful results with more sense of responsibility now among road users and also a significant decrease in the accident rate.
He said about 139 persons died in 111 fatal accidents from January 1 to October 15 last year while during the same period this year, 101 persons died in 79 accidents. “Effective and prompt measures have helped bring down the fatal and non-fatal road accidents drastically,� the SSP added. He said that night vision cameras have been installed recently at different locations in the capital which have effectively reduced the accident ratio at night as compared to the past.
…More than 24,000 persons, including students of schools, colleges, universities, government employees and hospital staff have been imparted education about traffic rules during last seven months. He said education team comprising one lady inspector, two assistant sub-inspectors and three lady constables visit various institutions for the purpose of imparting traffic education.The SSP said that traffic police issued 255,805 challan tickets during this year over violation of traffic rules while fine amount collected was Rs. 53,789,600. Most of the challan tickets were issued on signal light violation, driving without helmet and failure to yield the right of way to other vehicle.
By the way, we at ATP have written about Sultan Azam temuri before (here) and I actually went to school with. I write about him, however, not because I know him but because he knows what his job really is and he seems to know how to do it.
[…] Here at ATP we try to be as fair and even-handed as possible. We have praised the police in a number of posts when it has done well (here and here). We try to highlight what is blatantly wrong (here and here) when we see it. Silly attempts to spread lies is one thing; disappearances are quite another. They do not do anyone any good and cause irreparable harm to the reputation of the country, and to all of us. To those who worry about Pakistan’s image internationally, we have asked before, and we ask again: Who is giving Pakistan a bad name? […]
I am very happy to see and hear the news about ITP, as there services are getting better day by day. I am basically from Islamabd and now adays here in Canada. In the begining, when I compare ITP with Toronto Police, I found a big difference, as I see too much corruption in ITP, which starts from a senior to a junior ITP officer. But now at this time I can see a really big change in ITP. I will say that this is the result of hiring good and educated staff and co-operation of higher authorities. One thing i will argue on right now is our Licencing Offices, located any where with in a territory. I know till now by the use of sources, people are still getting their driving licence without passing a test, and this is the big cause of road accidents and life threatning injuries. I will finish my sentence with a good hope and thoughts for ITP and I hope that our ITP seniors will work on making ITP one of the best Traffic Police.
I am sorry, Adil, but I would actually use that example in the opposite way. I regularly use a memory of a trip between two hotels in the RWP-ISB area as a perfect example of what IS wrong with countries like ours–and it isn’t that our people can’t obey the law: the same taxiwala breezed through several green lights in Rawalpindi and then came to a halt at a red one once he crossed Zero Point. At three in the morning.
I will leave conclusions to others; since being a Karachiwala, anything I say is bound to sound like I am trashing Islamabad.
Adil,
I’ll give you a break on this one, and yes it is a good sign to see the law applying to VIP as well, My question is how are the fines, being tracked, are they collected at the time of violation, if so, who is to say the cop is not pocketing the cash, if not then are they still sticking to old school jalaan where they confiscate the drivers license, which is a pain. A pain due to lack of trust, inconvenience and bribes, that you are uncertain if you will get your license back in a timely manner not to mention you will be driving around without a license till the time you goto Police station.
If someone can clarify if our police force and driving license records can be tracked along with violations and fines, I would be surprised if we are that advanced yet, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong on this matter.
I think he is also doing the right thing by publicising this so that the message gets out and a postive expectation is created