Discomfiture of law.

Byline: Shahab Usto

RECENTLY, an honest and competent police officer, Dr Rizwan Ahmed, who had been posted only four months ago as SSP in district Shikarpur, was not only summarily relieved of his charge but banished from Sindh by the provincial government. He was apparently punished for breaching a 'verbal' official embargo that prohibited police officers from holding press conferences, but the actual cause of his removal lay in local politics that pitted him against a powerful pro-government feudal-tribal clique which had been extremely unhappy with him for his sheer independence and relentless drive against criminals.

To set the record straight, the officer didn't hold a presser, nor did he accuse any particular political party or person. But, invited by the local media to discuss law and order, he only highlighted the unfavourable sociopolitical conditions in which the district's police operated in and, by way of illustration, referred to a notorious gang of criminals who he believed was being patronised by some powerful local sardars and politicians.

Law and propriety demanded that the government should have instituted a high-powered inquiry to look into the veracity of his allegations. Instead, it removed him without consulting the IGP, who is the overall in-charge of provincial police and legally empowered to make such transfers/postings of all officers working under him. As to the provincial government's interference in the internal administration of police, the superior courts have categorically declared that 'the police hierarchy, acting through the Inspector General, must have control over its own affairs'. The judicial pronouncements are in line with the universally accepted principle of an independent police force 'which is a sine qua non for the rule of law and enforcement of fundamental rights'.

All over the democratic world, police has evolved into a unique arm of the state. It is distinguishable from other armed forces by its innately civil nature, apolitical object, benign training, and public interface. And it is also inimitable by its functional duality - maintaining a pervasive sense of security among law-abiding citizens, and yet keeping criminals in a constant state of awe and foreboding. But, unfortunately, for all the recent efforts put into reforming the provincial police, our police have yet to shed their negative image.

Apologists may see this perception as a holdover of decades of dictatorial dispensations that...