CM expresses anger over non-implementation of police stations reforms
PESHAWAR: Despite tall claims by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to have brought an end to the old policing, the powerful mafia at the police station level continues with its typical style of working while dealing with the general public.
People are being detained for days without being charged in any crime, both in cities and in remote districts and towns where citizens have no access to media and senior officials. There are a number of reports about innocent people being insulted during search and strike operations and raids in which many men are held to show police ‘performance’.
Besides, people coming to police stations to seek justice continue to face problems. They only get justice when the matter is brought into the notice of the superiors through media or SMS to the inspector general of police, regional police officers and district police officers.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak last Saturday visited the C Division Police Station and ordered suspension of the deputy superintendent of police, station house officer Hashtnagri and the concerned staff for detaining and torturing a citizen without lodging any case.
Reports said the man was held for three days without charging him in any case. The police, however, argued that he was charged hours before the chief minister conducted the raid. The station house officer even tried to tell the chief minister that the man has already been charged, but his reply was unconvincing.
The chief minister along with CCPO Mohammad Tahir and MPA ShaukatYousafzai visited the C Division Police Station after complaints that a citizen has been illegally detained and brutally tortured. He ordered suspension of the entire staff of the police station, saying his government will never tolerate any torture in police stations and will promote decency and professionalism in the force.
Some within the force circulated a list of all the cases in which this man was said to have been charged in recent years by the police in Peshawar and Nowshera. However, this doesn’t justify the detention of the accused without charging him in the case and bringing his arrest on the record.
This is the second time the chief minister had to visit a police station to keep check on the illegal actions of the cops. He had conducted a similar raid in Nowshera a few days ago after complaints of illegal detention.
Cops argue they have no option but to use third degree on most of the accused as they don’t speak the truth if asked politely.“I had given all the powers to inspector general of police and the police force on the condition that everyone coming to the police station will be dealt with respect, no one will be tortured, no fake cases will be lodged and no cop will demand bribe.
The cops should keep in mind that they even can’t push someone in the police station,” an enraged Pervez Khattak told the cops at C Division Police Station.
These two cases in which the chief minister interfered are of those who had access to the chief minister through the elected representatives or party office-bearers. The cases of huge majority of those illegally detained are never reported.
An Afghan national was brutally tortured during his 26-day custody after the local police failed to arrest the real culprits involved in a case of robbery of Rs1.5 million from a shop.
Speaking to this scribe, this person showed deep wounds in his thighs that he had sustained after he was fastened with iron chains for 26 days to confess a crime that he had nothing to do with. He had to shift to Afghanistan last month after living in Peshawar for 35 years.
A senior police officer said they have time and again directed the cops at the police station to be polite with those coming with any kind of complaint and make sure that nobody is held without being charged. However, he admitted that the practice is still going on and brought embarrassment to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, the force that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government and IGP Nasir Khan Durrani claim to have reformed in recent years.