Islamabad : Police officers of various groups and hues, indulge in property trade. Such officers are putting their entire skill in moneymaking through property dealing and other illegal means. Subsequently, police stations and offices of operational police have been converted into real estate offices.
“Yes! It is accurate that many police officers are involved in property business but we are working on those police officers indulge in property dealing,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad, Ehsan Younas said when contacted by this scribe. Those officers found embroiled in such business, would be eradicated from the operational duties, the IGP maintained.
“Why grip of the police is weakening day by day,” a retired top officer questioned, saying, “For the reason that the professional police officers have changed their priority towards property dealing snubbing their actual duty of maintaining law and order and combating distressingly hiking street crimes and other heinous offences.”
The performance of a public sector institution or of an official attached to it could be gauged from the commitment to the job and his priorities.
“Some police officers are billionaires owning tens of commercial and residential plots in expensive sectors of the town and run industries and other businesses during service and even after retirement,” a police officer, identifying several such officers, said. The prime objective of police force is to ensure law and order in society and to create a sense of security. However unfortunately our police force led mostly by greedy officers who never attend to their real job with commitment. We are made to believe that — PSP or rankers — are corrupt and responsible for poor performance of the department but officers outshine devising systematic tactics of corruption with the connivance of land-mafia.
With the emergence of land-grabbers and land-mafia in urban areas of the country, police officials find it convenient to connive with these business-magnates. It has been observed that such police officials use their skill to land grabbing and they are found busy in hunting plots and commercial sites in each and every new cooperative housing society.
It has been learnt that such officers remain in constant touch with property dealers and keep an eye on maturity of properties in different housing societies. Sources in land-business disclosed that some police officials own 20-25 plots each. It has also been learnt that police officers have also formed their own groups comprising officials of different categories for their property business. It also doesn’t matter if they are from the same city or are of the same cadre. The only thing that matters is: How to maximize their mutual benefits.
On the pretext of crime meetings, these police officers usually remain busy in checking property worth of their commercial and residential plots instead of concentrating on crime control strategies. These high-ups also assist the land-mafia tycoons on different issues relating land grabbing and threatening the people who had refused to sell their properties to them at throwaway prices. In any area, land grabbing is not possible without police protection and these police officers have invented this lucrative business-on the one hand to facilitate the land mafia and on other to multiply their personal assets.
This correspondent was present in the office of a cooperative housing society where a young PSP officer (SP), came there in uniform, started talking in typical style and advised the man to exchange his plots with some plot in a better location of the society.
There are hundreds of cases awaiting investigation by police. The way police performance is going down points out the fact that to eliminate crime has never been a priority with police department.
Across the world, police stations are considered as safe and protected homes but the way complainants are being treated at police stations is shameful, to say the least. The complainants who visit police stations are not only humiliated but sometimes the complainant gets caught into complications and has even to prove his own innocence.
There are reports that property tycoons use to provide shelter to absconders and proclaimed offenders and use them for land grabbing under police umbrella. Even some police officials are said to be on the pay rolls of land mafia.
An old retired IGP who always believed in professionalism said, “Why is this trend growing inside PSP officers who instead of focusing on professional duties misuse to multiply their benefits. Are there loopholes in the training provided to them at academies? It has been observed that instead of deputing the finest officials at police training institutions, mostly police instructors are deputed in training colleges as punishment and what sort of training will they provide when their selection criteria is punishment not ability,” he maintained. Police training needs to be hugely improved. We need to knoll police into an upright and energetic force.