Temuri falling short of expectations

Islamabad: It was, probably, the most daring daylight ‘highway robbery’ in the history of the federal capital. The incident happened on February 15 (Thursday) in the heart of the federal capital, not more than half-a-kilometre from the Aabpara Police Station.

It was around 7 pm when a car suddenly stopped under the bridge of Jinnah Avenue underpass on Garden Avenue, in the lane leading towards Polyclinic from Supper Market. The car stopped at such an angle that the whole road was blocked.

As it is a busy road, many a cars screeched to halt behind because of the blockade. Almost immediately four persons appeared riding two motorbikes, brandishing pistols, and started looting wallets and cell phones from the motorists who were stuck in the manipulated traffic jam.

The whole activity lasted for less than 10 minutes. But that was enough for the tail to reach Super Market intersection! A police escort came blowing sirens and the two robbers kicked their bike and rode off with the booty.

When Dr. Sultan Azam Temuri took over the charge of office of the Inspector-General of Police in Islamabad, the move by the government was widely, if not overwhelmingly welcomed. With a solid reputation during his career of being an honest, upright, strict disciplinarian and ‘no nonsense’ officer, it was expected that he would take the raging bull of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement in the police department by the horns.

At the time Mr Temuri took over the charge of the office of the IGP in the federal capital the police department was confronted with a number of major problems, which eventually reflect adversely not only on the performance of the department but on the lives of common people at large.

He started on an encouraging and positive note immediately after assuming the charge of his office in Islamabad and initiated some steps, which seemed to make a positive impact on policing in the federal capital.

He also introduced some steps which were aimed at facilitating the citizens to have easy and quick access to police. One must appreciate that the system did worked and public’s complaints and grievances started getting a response to a great extent.

But gradually this practice too started falling apart. The response remains there but the resolution of problem continues to be as difficult to achieve as it had always been.

Another step Mr. Temuri took was aimed at stemming the corruption and abuse of power in the Islamabad Police. Under this initiative the IGP Temuri wanted to purge the Islamabad Police of corrupt elements, or at least introduce tangible measures which would encourage the honest, dedicated and hard working officers/officials and discourage the corrupt officers/officials.

Under this initiative all the officers of the ranks of inspectors and sub inspectors, were categorised in three tiers. Those in the top tier were to be given the charge of a Police Station as the ‘Station House Officer’ (SHO).

Those in the second tier were required to perform in a manner that may clear them for promotion as ‘Inspectors’ and eventually given the charge of a Police Station as the SHO. And those placed in third tier were those who enjoy bad reputation and were recommended not to be promoted to the next rank because of their bad performance and practices.

Now almost three months have passed after Mr. Temuri assumed the charge of the office and the initial euphoria has subsided. And while sense of elation is fading away the sense of despondency and disappointment is rising because there is hardly any improvement noticed in the law and order situation in the city.

On the other hand a couple of decisions taken by the IGP Temuri empowered the police on the road all too powerful all of a sudden. And the incidents, where the police accesses have been reported and witnessed, have shown a sharp increase.

The incident mentioned in the start reflected the lethargic attitude of the Islamabad Police. But there had been numerous such incidents occurring all over the city.

And the most unfortunate and shocking incident came only this last Saturday when two constables of Islamabad Police were caught snatching money from a beggar. Fortunately the two were caught and are now facing departmental action. They were, later, booked under criminal charges and arrested for their criminal act according to law.

IGP Temuri is focusing more on community policing. Unfortunately, what he has not noticed is that the representation of the community in the effort is not transparent. The same people representing the powerful and influential class have become part of this initiative, elbowing out the honest common individuals who would have played a much better role in community policing.

The latest guidelines issued to the police officials out in the field on patrolling or security duties also have created a negative impact. The police officials are now increasingly busy bullying and harassing common citizens and are openly involved in extortion of money and material from helpless citizens. They even don’t spare the fruit, vegetable or cookie vendors as they would like to grab a handful of their merchandize for free.

Evidently, the old ‘Police Culture’ is being revived instead of introducing the steps that may lead to improve confidence of general public in the police.