Protecting the protectors.

Right after the calling-off of the ceasefire by TTP last month, the resurgence of militancy has been on dis play. The matter of internal security comes forth-- Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), and the Police, declare red alerts across different cities to ensure safety. The major question that follows is whether the police are trained or equipped enough to take internal security into their hands. The recent developments also take us to another question: who will provide safety to the police? In a developing country like Pakistan, a sizable decay and lack of coordination in almost every institution or government sector is not a story from the past; it continues to persist. In fact, in more recent times it has become increasingly worse than ever. For the most part, the police sector has been reportedly deep-set in the 'kinship-based/patron-client/elitist' social and political culture-used by the political elites as a force to subdue the political rivals/opponents, etc. Bearing in mind, the general masses associate the police with the 'iron fist' rather than the 'safety providers' they are envisioned as. This gives it a bad image and increases public distrust of the police. Subsequently gaining 'bad imagery' and the 'public distrust' for the police in the public discourse, at large. It is imperative to mention the massive corruption in this sector that has further led to the eroding of the whole structure of policing since the roots were never laid robustly. To say terrorism has been a singular factor that the police have failed to tackle effectively would be unjust to what immediate history suggests. The crises in Pakistan have come in different facets, amongst them, the most frequent has been in the shape of religious intolerance- sectarian violence, ethnic conflicts, and gender-based crime to mention a few. The police have perpetually shown to be inadequate in their capacity to take substantial measures-owing to feeble functional cohesion and lack of organisational responsibility, resulting in growing the venom of corruption rather than curbing it-annihilation is yet blurred to talk of in the distant...