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| India-Pakistan |
| Pity the police |
| 2016-04-24 |
| [DAWN] AFTER seven cops were killed in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... the other day, the usual condolences and prayers were offered, and we have already moved on. A week or so ago, another six were killed by gangsters in the Rajanpur face-off in southern Punjab. Their deaths were quickly buried under the media coverage of the army operation in the area. In the same disastrous attempt to neutralise the Chotoo gang, 24 cops had also been captured. In Karachi, hundreds of coppers have been murdered in broad daylight over the last four years. So common are these deaths that unless it’s a particularly bloody incident, they seldom make the front pages or the breaking news on TV. And of late, Rangers patrolling Karachi’s streets are being similarly targeted. While earlier, MQM hitmen were widely suspected of carrying out this bloody campaign, now it’s the jihadists of various stripes. So despite the ongoing Rangers-led operation to clean up Karachi, and the many staged encounters that have eliminated suspected bully boys, it would appear that the city has become a vast nest of vipers where Islamist Lions of Islam can pick off cops and Rangers at will. Clearly, our well-resourced intelligence agencies have failed at penetrating and identifying these groups and their hideouts. According to forensic evidence, the weapons used to kill the seven cops in Orangi were also employed in the killing of over a score of victims over the last two years. The gang remains untraced. Obviously, policing a city of 20 million is no easy task, especially with only around 25,000 coppers available. Out of these, nearly a third are assigned to protect public buildings and so-called VIPs. And even those who are supposed to protect us are poorly trained, underequipped and paid peanuts for risking their lives every day. It is true that the public has a very poor perception of our police for their corruption and incompetence. At independence, we inherited a force that was trained to protect the colonial state, and not ordinary citizens. Since then, its orientation has not changed. Despite three decades of militancy in Karachi, successive governments have been unable to train and equip an effective force to tackle this menace. With good reason, our cops are demoralised, serving under a rotten provincial administration. All too often, they have to pay bribes to get inducted into the force. So once they don their uniforms, there is every incentive for corruption to recover their investment. |
| Posted by:Fred |