Crime rate swells in Pindi as police remain in deep slumber

Rawalpindi: There were times not far back in the past when anybody from upcountry intending to visit Karachi was forewarned to remain vigilant against street crimes, especially cell phone, wristwatch, and purse snatching at gunpoint. Now the things have turned around. People coming to Rawalpindi city from other parts of the country are being given the same advice.

One thing, however, remains the same. The performance of Rawalpindi police is not satisfactory. People of the city feel; the law and order situation is deteriorating. It was not many years ago that the Islamabad Police used to approach the Rawalpindi Police for help as the criminals, after committing a crime in the federal capital would quickly cross over the IJ Principal Road. Now the, probably the situation on this count has also turned around.

People, especially women, have become a ‘soft target’ for these street thugs. These criminals have gradually turned into organised gangs, operating like ‘mafia’ with their own boundaries demarcated in which the other gang would not interfere.

And with each passing day, these gangs of criminals are getting stronger and stronger while the police continue sleeping over the problem. Analysing the situation, we can safely say that the police are hands in glove with these criminals. Recently one gang of these criminals, known as ‘Abdullah gang’ has been tracked down and some of its members have been arrested. Here again, it was the misfortune of these thugs because they targeted one photo journalist who was not ready to let go the incident as ‘just another one’ happening around. These thugs followed the photo journalist for some time and snatched his camera bag when he got off his motorbike to open the door of his home.

The photo journalist, recovered quickly enough from the psychological trauma of being attacked and deprived of the source of his living, the camera and other accessories, and within less than an hour, he was following them on his motorbike. Meanwhile, he also called the police for help. The greed of these thugs finally turned into the last trap when, while fleeing after having snatched the camera bag of the photo journalist, they spotted one car on the kerb, with the driver holding a good-looking phone in his palm.

They quickly snatched the phone from the young driver and sped away. They never knew that the phone belonged to one of these cab services, which are directly connected to their control room through the tracker network!

The cab company tracker led the police party to the restaurant where these thugs were enjoying a cup of tea. But so non-professional and inefficient were the policemen that these thugs almost managed to get away, but for one who stumbled and fell on the ground, making it easier for the police to take him into custody while the other culprit managed to dodge these ‘highly trained’ policemen and disappeared.

The arrested thug eventually divulged some importation information in the course of investigations, which led to identifying the ‘Abdullah gang’ and arrests of some other members of the gang too.

Many people believe the police arrested the culprit and started investigations, which led to unearthing of the ‘Abdullah gang’ was because of the involvement of this photo journalist. Had he not been pursuing the matter, there was every possibility that Rawalpindi Police would have not been so eager to act. This is a fact that an overwhelming majority of the victims of such muggings prefer not to approach the police to file their complaints, leave alone insisting on registering an FIR (First Information Report).

It is always almost impossible to find incriminating evidence proving the police-criminal nexus in such conditions but the circumstantial evidence and public opinion clearly indicate that the Rawalpindi Police is the most untrustworthy institution in the eyes of the masses.

This is an open secret that the police have become the patron of these criminal, both ‘white’ and ‘black’. And it is the patronage of the police which create chaos and anarchy in the society. And that exactly seems to be happening in Rawalpindi now. This phenomenon indeed has not sprung up over night. This has taken years to mature and one major contributing factor is the prolonged postings of senior officers in their offices at the top and similar practice at grassroots level in the postings and transfers of the station house officers (SHOs) in the police stations of the city.

As a result, as could be seen and assessed, the law and order situation in Rawalpindi has touched the lowest ebb. The criminals are ruling the city and the citizens have almost stopped looking towards the police for help. It is a writing on the wall that if immediate steps, first to arrest the deteriorating law and order situation through a serious crackdown against criminals, followed by efforts to retrieve the situation by confidence building measures between police and public, were not launched the city will become another ‘Karachi’ of 1990s and 2000. And if the police are not capable to doing all this, would it require a call to the Rangers to bring safety and security back in the lives of common citizens in Rawalpindi as well? It has always been considered a ‘good practice’ to keep rotating the officers in different districts with maximum stay of 3 years posting at one place. The rotation practice for the SHO’s should be even less, with maximum tenure of 2 years in one police station.

As against this, the CPO and RPO of Rawalpindi is in office for 5th successive year, a fact that contributes towards developing strong links between police and the gangs of criminals, both ‘white’ as well as ‘black’. Change of command could be the most effective way to control the deteriorating situation. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who believes in police performance for peace in the society as well as protection of lives and property of general public, should take up the issue. He should not believe what is on papers, but should observe what is on ground.