Ghotki attack

Whether they are guarding a post, trying to control traffic, or camping for an operation, police personnel appear to be vulnerable to attacks anywhere in Pakistan. On Saturday night, at least five policemen including a deputy superintendent of police and two station house officers (SHOs) lost their lives when over 100 dacoits attacked a police camp in the Kacha area of the Ghotki district. According to reports, the police party was camping in the riverine area of Raunti in Ubauro of the Ghotki district when the dacoits struck and killed three senior police officers and injured many others. The police were seeking to recover three hostages including a minor who were kidnapped on Oct 30. The details of the attack are horrifying as the number of dacoits is reported to be massive and they reportedly had modern weapons and fired at least 25 rockets at the police camp. The attack was so sudden that the police could hardly defend themselves. Making it even more gruesome is that the attackers are reported to have celebrated the killings after taking away the bodies of the killed policemen. They returned the bodies after a few hours, and that too after some serious mediation efforts were made by local influential people.

Three armoured personnel carriers (APCs) were also unable to protect the lives of the policemen who found themselves at the mercy of the dacoits. Even the rocket launchers that the police had proved to be useless; one would assume either some technical faults or lack of training prevented their timely use. All these factors raise some serious questions about the way such operations get underway and how the police lack both training and the wherewithal to protect themselves, what to talk of leading an operation and eliminating the menace of dacoits. If the number of dacoits in that area is known to be in hundreds, why was a small police party deployed? Another question is about the availability of modern weapons to these criminals. The supply and transportation of these weapons across the country is a serious issue. Right from the time of Gen Ziaul Haq when the so-called ‘Kalashnikov culture’ took root in the country, criminals have access to weapons that even the police do not have. The rocket launchers that dacoits use are not tiny capsules that one can hide in a pocket. How and from where they procure such rocket launchers should be a cause of concern not only for the police but for the entire state machinery. Then, after the attack the use of traditional footprint tracing is a joke in the 21st century. Why are the police not provided air surveillance in such cases as well as air rescue to give cover and target the attackers?

The entire operation appears to be so ill-planned that there were no contingency mechanisms in place to protect the police party in the field. What did the APCs do during the attack? Perhaps there was no one inside the APCs to mobilize them swiftly. The police have sacrificed hundreds – if not thousands – of their personnel in the past decades but there appears to be no learning from the experiences and failures. In a day and age where the most sophisticated means of criminal activity are readily available to be learnt on a mere click, why are our police still living at least 50 years behind the times? How is this of any service to those they are meant to protect and serve? Perhaps even more importantly, how is this helping us keep our police personnel safe? Or do their lives just not matter?