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
Why single out lowly policemen for being corrupt – which we know they are? What about all our budding civil servants who overwhelmingly opt for Customs and Income Tax departments?
Pakistan’s problem in law and order is that we know we can get away with most transgressions. My observation of people in the US is that they aren’t any more law abiding by nature than us, they are just more afraid they will be caught.
Excellent post Owais bhai, I agree with you the police are not the source of all evil in Pakistan and reflect our failings as a people. Surely the government can do much better, why cant police budgets for each police station be published and scrutinised at the local and provincial level by politicans and civil society alike so money is spent on key equipment?
Feimanallah
Wasim
Police is a reflection of our society. These guys are not aliens implanted from outer space. They have come from within the society as others. Yes there is rampant corruption in the department but it needs to be resolved and should not be an excuse to not to modernize the force. Police needs to be given all necessary tools they need to fight crime. Many readers have rightly mentioned the meagre pay that policemen get which is not enough to make their ends meet.
Another very important need is to educate this police force in human rights.
…by the way…
as much as I enjoy watching police walas standing in the cold or the hot sun begging for lifts…
I sometimes do give one or two of them a lift…just so I can vent at them while I drive….they are most submissive at that time and surprisingly confessional about their deeds……
PS…props to NWFP police who have surprised me with their conduct on more than one occasion…
it is mostly the Punjab police that is the main culprit!
well….This post does bring up a good point…
However, as the post suggests, it would be very naive to suggest that the only reason the Pakistan Police is not upto the task of protecting the lives and property of Pakistani’s is that they do not have the proper tools….ie, mobile vans, weapons etc…
That is just not the case……
I find it very hard to find any sympathy for the Pakistan police as they are an instrument of extreme cruelty and the way police in pakistan treat the general citizenry is to put it mildly….apalling…
I would like to bring up the Sonia Naz issue as a case in point…abused by the police BEFORE her ordeal…then abused and raped by the police AFTERWARDS as well…now why is that no Police Officer when ordered to persecute her and her children had the courage or integrity to stand up and put a stop to it…
was it lack of mobile vans or weapons? Certainly not…it was just absolute cruelty and the sadistic nature of most police walas who have a habit of mistreating the general public sometimes just for sport…
there are thousands of other cases like this….
If this post was supposed to extract sympathy for the Pakistan police then it fails to do that…in fact it induces a nice little chuckle :)
hard to feel sympathy when these police walas themselves pony up quite large sums of money to bribe officials just to get into the police even at the constable level…this is expecially true of the Punjab Police…the most wretched and hated police force of Pakistan…
so lets get the fact straight that what prevents the police from performing its basic functions is not equipment…its the use of the police for political agendas…wanton corruption….lack of any semblance of training and a colonial mindset towards the local populace and finally…an inability and reluctance of the Police high command to stand upto political influence and try in some way to take back their own police force if not for dutys sake..for their own professional independance…
having said all that…an effective and well trained and equiped police force is a cornerstone of any well functioning society..and the effectiveness of any police force cannot exist independant from other arms of the state….chief amongst them is an independant judiciary which keeps a check on the activities of the police and gives them legal teeth to standup political pressure and influence…