Criminals continue to challenge capital city cops

Islamabad : This is not a pleasant incident to discuss but it was absolutely unprecedented when one of the female commando constables of Islamabad Police got raped in a green belt along the busiest thoroughfare of the federal capital, the Islamabad Expressway. And that too when she was in possession of the official gun issued to her.

The victim unconscious female constable and her gun were spotted lying side by side in the green belt where, apparently, the rapist had left her after the most deplorable act of crime and fled without leaving behind any trail.

As we have said that it seems impolite to discuss the issue in the columns of this newspaper, but one must admit that it was the most shocking incident that must have made the whole of Islamabad Police very worried. The investigation of the one of the most sensitive rape case has been handed over to the CIA police and left the public in general in shock. The people engaged in the investigation of the case claimed that the CIA has not taken the case as the heinous crime and not yet reached any conclusion, however, four suspects have been detained for investigation.

The initial probe indicated the possible involvement of her former husband whom the victim female constable has recently divorced or separated but nothing substantive has come to the fore as yet.

But, unfortunately, there had been reports of sexual harassment of female members of the Islamabad Police at the hands of their own male colleagues in the offices in the recent past as well.

How serious those incidents of ‘sexual harassment’ were not made clear but the fact that the matter was reported in writing to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan bespeak of the severity of the matter.

A departmental inquiry was held in the matter but what was the outcome, if there was any, was not made public by the Islamabad Police. This has been what is happening in the Islamabad Police or with the Islamabad Police.

What has been happening with the general public is turning far more serious but in the political melee, price hike in consumer items, and traffic jams on roads has created such frenzy in the society wherein criminals, individuals, groups and gangs seem to be ruling the roost.

Because of an entirely new political party in power this time, all of a sudden it seems that the Islamabad Police has become a disjointed department. Like the rest of the bureaucracy, the police department also has fallen back because the leaders, the top officers of the force, have become reluctant to take any initiative or even to keep up the crime combating measures in the federal capital.

The Police bureaucracy over the last almost 38 years has become accustomed to deal with two kind of political leadership. Most of the time the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or for a lesser period of time they were tuned to deal with the political leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). And both, the politicians as well as the bureaucrats knew their friends and foes and favourites or the liked and disliked. And they used to quickly adjust to any change in the government.

But this time they are confused. And this confusion has made them inactive. And the inactivity on part of the leadership, (SDPOs to the IG) has brought lethargy unto the whole department. But the most damaging aspect of the prevailing situation is that some well-known unscrupulous elements of the Islamabad Police enjoying not a very good service record or reputation are being shuffled around and appointed at some very important positions.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has kept the portfolio of ‘Interior Minister’ with himself and has appointed a very young man, Shehryar Afridi, as the Minister of State for Interior. We have no doubt that Shehryar Afridi is a vibrant, energetic, honest and dedicated person but he lacks experience.

He is out to do wonders and we believe the people around him must have been telling him that he is doing wonders.

But we believe he has to calm down a bit, have a good briefing from the most senior officers in the department enjoying clean record and excellent reputation and, heed to their advice and take steps that would bring about a positive change in the police department at the grassroots level.

And he needs to know that a good leader set out to bring about a change need to have a good force at hand to implement his ideas. Pay the attention where it is required most. Spot and get rid of the ‘black sheep’ in the department and make use of the good officers.

Well, it would be impossible for Mr Shehryar Afridi to get rid of the officials in Islamabad Police having tainted service record and reputation but a lot of good could be done simply by putting the honest and dedicated officers in the right places in the department.