Owais Mughal
The motto of Pakistan polics is to help those who are in need. How can this help be delivered in a time of need when the hardware given to police is not adequate and breaks down easily. Following three photos have been collected from national electronic media and show the plight of those who are supposed to keep our streets free of crime. The first photo below is from June 7, 2007, posted at the Daily Times and shows a policeman doing balancing act atop an overcrowded van.
Following photo is from the daily Jang of July 10, 2007 and shows a police van broken down in Pir Ilahi Bakhsh (PIB) colony of Karachi. Police guys are seen pushing the van themselves to get it ‘dhakka’ (push) start.
Following photo is also from the daily Dawn Karachi and shows another police mobile broken down and getting pushed by policemen.
Following Photo is taken from flickr.com and shows police in Lahore pushing their broken car.
There is a strong to provide police with necessary tools and equipment which doesn’t breakdown when it is needed and is adequate enough to combat the bad guys. This is a necessary step need from our government so that our police in return can help citizens in need and prove true to their motto which in Urdu goes like this:
‘police ka hai farz madad aap ki’
Looking at the photos above a famous sher comes to mind:
baghbaan ne aag dee jab aashianay ko meray
jin pe takya tha wohi pattay hawa denay lagay
When the custodian of a garden started the fire himself
The trusted upon leaves provided the fuel to the fire
In Pakistan, the function of Police is to only harass (not protect) common people. It does not matter if they have broken cars/jeep or have top of the line automobiles. They will be away from crime scenes – assisting the crime and will be back on the street later on, harassing common (shareef) people. You know that, Owais. Remember the double-swari ban?
Owais, Very important topic highlighted here. I would say that you also have to look at the salary structure and working condition of these poor fellows. In 1995, I was in Pakistan teaching at Karachi University’s department of International Relations for short stint and the salary was meagre. BSP-17 grade was taking 4800 ruppees. How can you maintain yourselve forget about having a family. Even today, the salaries of our civil employees is embarrassing but our expectations are same as those of people living in United States.
These police officers belong to low grades i.e. 5…up and their salaries today would be around 5000 ruppees estimate.
You can look up the Pay scale of government employees for year 2003-2004 at this link http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/ContentInfo.j sp?DivID=14&cPath=125_130&ContentID=3023
This is plain injustice being done to civil employees.
Owais, I would like to send you my summary information. Please let me know the emial address and you can incorporate that information on your next blog.
Our government just funds Armed Forces and they have highly equipped weapons and vehicles. If Army suppose to guard on boundaries then Police suppose to guard inside the country. Crime rate cant be down by this kind of police which we have, and they are actually “BOOJH” on us.
The sad thing is not that Pak Police is pushing their own vehicles and they don’t have enough resources but the story should be that they don’t do enough exercise to help the innocent people. We usually hear that policeman’s are under paid workers in Pak but When I was living in Karachi I hear that people pay to get police jobs from 50-200Grand rupees. They make enough money from bhatta or bribry that they are getting fat and fat every month.
We care so much about halal food abroad but people don’t consider the fact that our income should be halal too.
Just a thought!
we are paying taxs,doing everything possible…..its wouldnt help till the government makes an effort…