Back to the Dark Ages: A Rebuttal

By Rafique Ahmed

This is apropos Mr. Afzal A. Shigri’s article “Back to the Dark Ages” carried by dawn in its 14^th May issue. Mr. Shigri’s article is full of misinformation, unverified reports, palpable bias and above all ignorance of the law of the land and the ground realities in Balochistan. It is important that discussion is put in proper perspective and record in set right.

The contention that Levies administered “B” area in Balochistan became the destination for most vehicles snatched at gunpoint in Karachi and a sanctuary for top criminal gangs operating in Sindh and Punjab, falls on its face as writer deliberately omits to utter even single word on the state of crimes from 2003 to 2010 when police hierarchy had unfettered operational, administrative and financial powers throughout Balochistan. Did vehicle snatching stop in Karachi or it actually increased manifold? It would have been a national service on the part of the retired Inspector General of Police if he had enlightened the readers with his precise information of the top criminal gangs of Sindh and the Punjab nabbed by trained, groomed and well-equipped Police in Balochistan?

Moreover, nothing is far from truth than to say that police has been delinked from Sardari system. Actually, denying the undeniable police criminal nexus is like refuting the existence of sun in the broad day light.

Truly, Torture Commission may have been constituted in 1855 to probe the alleged high-handedness of revenue officials in colonial Madras: but why not to talk in same breath, of the hundreds of Commissions of Inquiry set up from time to time for investigating the extra judicial illegal and questionable actions of the police officers in the nook and cranny of Pakistan.

Further, associating Levies force of Balochistan with tribalism is as old a ploy as 1999 coupe against the elected democratic government in the country. Tribalism was there even before levies were instituted. It has survived the disbanding of levies. Therefore, it is inappropriate to establish a causal link between the two. In fact the concept of levies force, actually, is closer to the concept of community policing. Levies men are local from along the communities, responsible for their areas of jurisdiction and owned by communities and supported by society at large. Rugged terrains of Kohlu, Dera Bugti, Barkhan, Musakhel, Bolan, Chaghai and Awaran in Balochistan are foreign to the urbanized, safety-seeking, career conscious, fun-loving and English speaking Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers. I must wake up readers to that fact that all through the history of policing in Balochistan not a single PSP officer has ever been posted or has ever opted to serve in Kohlu, Dera Bugti, Chaghai, Musakhel, Awaran, Washuk, Kharan or Barkhan districts of Balochistan, PSPs have always opted for safe environs of urban, peaceful and accessible by aerial flights Pishin, Jaffarabad, Lasbela and Quetta. Mr. Shigri may have satisfied his ego by dubbing the management professionals as ‘revenue bureaucracy’ but it is a known fact that a District Management Group Officer is trained in culture, norms, language and tradition of an area much before the actually lands there. DMGs are management practitioners who accepted the decisions of the government and put in every ounce of their energy to make Local Government Ordinance 2001 a success. And here is an ex-police officer who is inviting higher judiciary to take suo moto notice against the constitutional actions of government and there are other police officers here in Balochistan who have actuality dragged Government of Balochistan into court of law for framing Balochistan Levies Force Act 2010 against the sweet will and desires of a dozen of police officers.

We must be mindful of the fact that to get cushy postings and create avenues for last track promotions, a few of the police top brass approached and prevailed upon the unelected regime of the time to provide for a law that encroached upon constitutionally guaranteed provincial autonomy. Police Order 2002 is a law on a subject which, even before deletion of Concurrent Legislative List through Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment, always fell within provincial residuary powers. So much for the respect of Constitution and law of the land. Not a single police officer out of all the bigwings of police bureaucracy, uttered a single word that Law and Order and Police are provincial subjects hence Federal Government should not bother itself with legislating. Instead of advising the Federal Government against infringing upon constitutional domain of provinces, the senior police officers used their clout and personal linkages that they had acquired by doing the bidding of unelected elements over and above the rule of law, for enacting Police Law of 2002 through a Chief Executive Order. They were in such a fear of public representative and power of parliament that made all efforts to keep public in dark. There is not a single debate of stake holders on record having taken place on such a important issue. So much says that the new police law was protect under Seventh Constitutional Amendment by subjecting its amendment to Presidential approval because the authors of the law knew that province would never bear with a federal law that permeates their domain. Luckily, it did not occur to police officers in cohorts with erstwhile military dictator to subject it to the approval of General Pervez Musharraf, by name, otherwise the parliament would have to waste its precious moments in also deleting an-other name from the annals of history and put indelible ink on provisions of sacred pages of constitution and its sixth schedule.

Interestingly, the provisions of Police Order 2002 itself have been more honored in violation rather than in practice in the higher police echelons. Not a single provincial head of police as ever bothered to attend a Provincial Public Safety Commission meeting to defend to indefensible police high handedness. The Provincial Police Officers have, not for a single moment, accepted their designation PPO and continue to repeat and reiterate now legally obsolete ‘Inspector General’ with stress upon the last part the phrase. Unfortunately, due to whatever reasons, senior police officers have succumbed to the starched sheen of military uniform, military justice, military jargon and military procedures to such an extent that Mr. Shigri without an iota hesitation has consistently referred to the police hierarchy as police command, span of control as ‘command structure’ and his colleague here in Balochistan have been presenting police meetings as ‘Command Conference(s)’ and PPO as ‘I General’.

Authors of the Order may explain the intellectual poverty in police ranks. It is worrisorne that not a single rule has been framed to give effect to the provisions of Police Order 2002. Police is still being administered under rules made under Police Act 1861. So much so that Police minds have not been able to do away with colonial nomenclature of Superintendent, Inspect, and Constable. Does our rich national language have no equivalents? A head of provincial police may be called Subadar, a DIG as Naib Subadar, a Superintendent as Nigraan, a Assistant/Deputy Superintendent as Naib Nigraan an SHO a thanedar, a Head Constable as Jama’daar, and a Constable as Sipahi. Vernacular easy to and already known to man on the street from our national history. Why to bother simple minds with unpronounceable colonial vestiges. Why not immediately adopt locally recognized nomenclature for promoting public friendly face of much maligned police.

As for Police investigation and prosecution, judges are the best judges. I only refer to recent admonition of the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court wherein the quality of police investigation was called into question because the so-called trained investigators had been able to get conviction in only 8 cases out of 313 cases in Anti Terrorism Courts. Levies investigations, on the other hand, historically, lead to 90 per cent in recovery and conviction. Community forces like levies and not symbols of inefficiency, torture, and corruption like police, are the apparatuses that can make out was on terror a success. If police hierarchy were dependable enough we would not have to expend million of dollars for investigating the martyrdom of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. Be it also known to all and sundry that none of the officers of Balochistan police has been trained in forensic science, not a single forensic laboratory has been established in the province, though scores of posts for investigation branch of police have been created, by administratively independent PPO of Police Order 2002, to allow wholesale promotions without regard to expertise and requisite length of service.

In Balochistan, since 2003, Rs.10 billion of this resource starved province have been drained down in the administrative expenditures of white elephant called police. PPO Balochistan, making the most of his misconstrued status as ex-officio Secretary to Government and of his financial and administrative autonomy, has bought himself an aircraft to facilitate his trips to capitals but the same can not, due to its technical specifications, land anywhere in Balochistan to carry aerial reconnaissance, take high ups to trouble spots or rescue critically hurt police officers. Central Police Office and all the Regional Police Offices have hordes of new shining SUVs and urban road-friendly Saloon Cars but typical police thana is still visible devoid of basic civic amenities. Scores of police stations, DPO and SDPO offices are still housed in revenue quarters, Schools, health facilities and communication department structures. Fruits and effects of cash flows to Balochistan police or police everywhere else in the country have not trickled down to ameliorate the state of a Sipahi who stands under scorching sun and in chilling cold to see that rule of law prevails.

In the face of all the media reports, do we still have to dilate upon the operational efficiency and effectiveness of police in Balochistan or anywhere else in the country? Despite inflated ranks, fat pays and perks, operational, administrative and financial autonomy, police has miserably failed to establish write of the state in the province. What to talk Kohlu or Dera Bugti, visibility of police officers is merely a dream even in the provincial capital Quetta. The Government of Balochistan had requisition para military force Frontier Corps and virtually handover to it the provincial capital and major districts for routine law and order duties. This costs Government of Balochistan annually tens of billions of rupees in Internal Security Allowance over and above the operational, administrative and project costs of Balochistan Police. So much for “independent command structure” of police, without an supervision and oversight of an executive magistrate, they have not been able to even manage traffic on our roads and in our towns and cities.

It is sheer misconstruction to say that Police Order 2002 has been implemented in entire country. Are we agreeing with the dictum: ‘Pakistan is 15 Kilometers from Islamabad”? Are FATAs, Gilgit-Baltistan, Tribal areas of the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s PATAs not part of the land of the pure if Police Order 2002 is not order of the day there? If Khasadars and Border Military Police (BMP) can not enforce law in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Punjab respectively, why Levies force and Balochistan police can not act side by side and re-enforce in their respective areas of jurisdiction and uphold the will of the people as reflected through an Act of Provincial legislature.

Invitation to Federal Ministry of Interior and Higher judiciary for taking notice of actions of Government of Balochistan may seen as suggestion of extra constitutional interventions. Sadly, these are coming from an officer who has had the reputation of being an icon of executive authority.

All in all, the Founders of the National envisioned Pakistan as a modern democratic state and not a ‘Police State’. Good governance does not lie in centralization of authority, concentration of powers and monopolization of rights; its rest in empowerment of communities, decentralization and democratization. An unchecked police power without a judicial, managerial and executive oversight is recipe’ for police state, any hints, ideas and insinuations leading to such a arrangement must be nipped in the bud for sake of public peace and rule of law.

(The writer is Public Policy and Governance Specialist having a Masters in Public Policy from National Graduate Institute for Public Policy (GRIPS) Tokyo Japan)