Karachi: Outdated policing system in the country is waiting for reforms as betterment in policing strategies would help in checking the rising crime in society.
Voice Against Corruption President Ahsan Bari Advocate said police department has become notorious for corruption and nepotism and unless the police force is purged from the black sheep, the dream of a crime-free society could not be materialized. He said it is an open secret that employees of police, as well as, other watchdog departments live behind their known income. He said these employees not only have costly properties in Pakistan but also abroad. He said there are allegations that some officials also hold dual nationality.
He said that the apex judiciary may take notice of the situation and order forming a joint investigation team to probe the misdeeds of corrupt elements and on the other hand a commission may be formed to draft much needed police reforms on urgent basis. He said success experiences of efficient policing systems in the world as well as in the region could be replicated wherever needed. He said we can only reform our society when crucial departments like police are reformed.
However, Pasban e Pakistan President Altaf Shakoor regretted that policing and crime-control laws introduced by the British rulers to tame and govern their enslaved colonies are still in vogue in our country. He said it has become overdue to amend these black slavery laws and rules to restrain our unbridled and trigger-happy police from killing innocent people in staged encounters.
Shakoor said extrajudicial killings of innocent citizens at the hands of police have tarnished the soft image of Pakistan in whole word. He said the colonial rulers had enacted their crime control and policing laws and rules to tame and keep suppressed an enslaved nation. He said these laws suited the needs and interests of the then British masters, but sadly even after the independence of the country these salve-control laws and policing methods are still operational in our society.
He said in whole world the mega urban cities have their own policing systems and these success stories should also be replicated in Karachi and Lahore. He said political interference into the police department should be ended for good and only competent, honest and professional cops should be hired to make a crime-free society. He said all serving cops should be made bound to sit in new exams and tests to prove their educational standards and fitness to serve in police force. He said a rigorous training should be introduced for all serving cops to enable them for a better policing.
He said the concept of community policing should be seriously contemplated and community policing on modern lines should be introduced in Pakistani cities, towns and villages. He said out outdated laws have given a license to kill to our trigger-happy cops and without amending the present law and rules we cannot make our police a human-friendly force.
Pasban leader opined that in fact the Pakistanis are yet to get a real independence, as after the white-skinned masters now they are being ruled by blacked-skinned masters, who are crueller and more inhuman. He said the laws and rules in Pakistan are inbuilt to serve the interests of the elite class and keep the enslaved people more slaved and more obedient. He said the Parliament should take this matter seriously and overhaul all criminal and civil laws and rules to make them civilized and people-friendly. He said big cities like Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad should be given elected police commissioners so that they could serve the masses instead of serving feudal lords, Waderas, bureaucrats, politicians and MPs.
He appealed to the apex judiciary and parliament to play their due role in amendments of existing police and crime control laws and rules and give Pakistanis better and civilized laws that could cater the needs of an independent country and independent nation.