The police and the Rangers: Part - II

When my article with the above caption appeared on this page on Oct 7, the response from the police, the Rangers, and the readers was overwhelming. The police wrote to me appreciating the contents and the tone of the article, which they found accurate and objective.

The Rangers were happy at the positive light shed on the police but they did not like the unflattering recount about the episode in Islamabad when the federal interior minister was stopped by the Rangers personnel. The readers sent me emails with a mixed response.

With this background, it is important to set the record straight. The purpose of the article was not to praise the police at the cost of the Rangers, nor was there any intention to downplay the role the Rangers have played in restoring order, to some extent, in Karachi. The efforts made by our security forces – under civilian and military commands – are commendable. The sacrifices that the armed forces, the police, and the Rangers make can never be paid back by the nation. And, despite incidents of corruption, our men and women in uniform have done tremendous services for the country.

In the article, the enumeration of the problems the police face was meant to highlight the pathetic condition in which the police operate. Some of the readers have complained that the article was too soft on the police and failed to highlight the rampant corruption the police indulge in: the traffic police that extracts money from the public at every nook and corner has been a major concern. The problems people face while trying to register an FIR was another. The real or perceived support the police provide to criminals was the third. The list of grievances the public has against the police is long.

One reader opined that the police cannot expect any respect from the public unless they start treating the people, especially the victims of crimes, with respect. Fair enough. But the police itself force comes from society and is treated by the feudal lords and politicians as their servants. Moreover, as mentioned in the previous article, even our military and paramilitary forces browbeat police personnel with impunity. The resultant anger and frustration in the police further aggravates the situation. They don’t have a CMH or an APS for their families.

This is not to justify police excesses or give them an excuse to misbehave with the public. The police should be held responsible for their misdeeds but this accountability should not be a must for the police alone. Our military and paramilitary officers should also be held answerable if they cross boundaries. One can cite dozens of examples in which the police high command was dismissed, handcuffed, sentenced, or suspended for something they did or didn’t commit. One can hardly recall any incident in which the same can be said about our military and paramilitary forces.

In an email to this writer, a deputy superintendent of the Rangers (DSR) in Karachi, Javed Ahmed, has highlighted ‘the perspective of the Rangers which is not visible to [the] common people of Pakistan’. He clarifies that ‘the Rangers is a civil armed force commanded by army officers’. According to him, this is ‘due to the [fact that] army officers things runs (sic) in [an] organized and proper way as compare (sic) to [the] police’. He also mentioned some points ‘regarding pay and packages’, such as the fact that the Rangers have established hospitals, schools, colleges, and hostels for their children; set up ‘cook houses for its troops’ but the police don’t do it ‘because [they] come for 8 to 10 hours duty and go back home’.

The DSR further clarified that the ‘Rangers soldier cannot go to home because his native town is in Punjab, KP, Balochistan, Gilgit and Kashmir’. As per his email, ‘Rangers soldiers mostly live [a] bachelor life’ and ‘cannot accommodate family at [the] duty station due to shortage of married accommodation but police officials, being local, [look] after [their] family’.

This is precisely why it is not a good idea to deploy the Rangers for maintenance of public order in cities. It is neither fair to them nor to the police and the public. Requesting help from the paramilitary force once in a while may be acceptable and necessary. But keeping a large contingent of non-local forces in an urban area for decades is not a good idea. That’s why in the previous article it was stressed that the local police should be sufficiently equipped and trained so that our brethren from the Rangers do not have to do a duty that is not primarily theirs.

There is no denying the fact that the Rangers have contributed a lot towards the maintenance of law and order in Karachi. Their efforts must be praised and adequately rewarded but one has to also acknowledge the still simmering tensions in Karachi and perpetual street crimes that haunt the denizens of this megalopolis. It is unfair to expect from the Rangers duties that are in the police domain.

A longer presence of the Rangers in urban areas will be harmful to the force itself since long military rule in the country has done tremendous harm not only to the country but to the army too.

Concluded:

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK and works in Islamabad.

Email: Mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk