Time for some soul searching.

To the Pakistan Police: it is time for some soul-searching. If we do not honestly hold ourselves accountAable, others will do it for us, and the reAsults may not be to our liking. As they say, it is 'resistance to change that is painful, not the change itself'. Life's best lessons can usually be learned from the most horrible mistakes and the most unpleasant times. Look at what Germany and Japan did and where they are now.

The London Metropolitan Police once used to be a role model; Not seen anyAwhere but appearing from all over when needed. Professionalism was its presAtige, deliverability, its symbol. Then, somehow, it started losing its respect in the eyes of the people it was supposed to protect. In March 2021, a young womAan, Sarah Everard, was abducted, raped, and murdered by a serving police offiAcer, Wayne Couzens. Couzens was subseAquently sentenced to life imprisonment.

It may not have been the first incident of its kind, but it shook the whole soAciety. As a result, London Mayor Sadiq Khan demanded Police Commissioner Cressida Deck resign. Before stepping down, however, she formed a commisAsion to review the Met Police's perforAmance. The review was led by Louise Casey, a member of the UK parliament's upper house. It took her two years to produce a comprehensive 363-page reAport highlighting some startling facts and findings and included tough deciAsions that were to be implemented by the new police chief.

Such a report could not be brushed under the carpet in a civilised society like London. So, the overhauling had to be done, and bravo to the Met Police, they are doing it.

Do we see in our country any appetite for such bold efforts for self-reform? Sadly, though many incidents like EveArard's rape and murder have been reAported here at home, not a finger has been lifted to hold deviants to account. In the absence of self-accountability, the power imbalance between the law enAforcer and the common citizen is widAening by the day. The police officer here is respected not for their service to soAciety but out of fear of the nuisance they may cause. This is even though the ofAficer places their life in mortal danAger while they hunt down criminal elements and protect the innocent, nevAertheless even when a cop is martyred in the line of duty, another is quick to replace him and face the same dangers with stoic bravery.

Regrettably, our history is replete with examples of protectors turning oppresAsors. The acquittal of Rao Anwar...