Murderous motives

The inquiry report into the death, on January 2, of 22-year-old Usama Satti – who was chased and then shot by the police in Islamabad – shows that it was not an accidental death but a case of murder. Following the findings, five police officials including three superintendents of police, a deputy superintendent and two SHOs have been removed from duty. The findings are quite astounding in the audacity displayed by the police officers. It seems that they made an almost deliberate attempt to kill the young boy driving the car, later tried to cover up their action which could show murder, failed to call 1122 to the scene immediately and only later asked the vehicle from the rescue service to come to the spot and also attempted to pressurize hospital officials to change their initial report, which stated a bullet had been fired from the front hitting Usama Satti.

The family of the victim has met the prime minister and received sympathetic treatment. But this is not the point. The point is the desperate need for police reforms and a change in the attitude of the police towards the people they are investigating or the inquiries they are conducting. No matter what Usama Satti may have done, or was suspected of having done, there can be no excuse for murder. Killing a person by pumping bullets into his body, when he could easily have been detained by the policemen who had followed him, amounts to an act of horrendous brutality. In the first place, we need to pour resources into training for police officials so that they know how to act in various situations. In other words, we need a set of master trainers. It has also been suggested that psychological counselling for police officials may be useful. Certainly they need to learn that human life, no matter who it belongs to, is valuable and must at all costs be protected.

We all know there is a desperate need to reform our police. Their reputation among the public is terrible. To prevent crime and control violence, this has to change. Civilians and the police must work together for this purpose and develop a relationship of cooperation. This can happen only if acts such as the gunning down of a young man in the capital end and the police learn to act with greater humanity and follow the rules of the force that they belong to without any exception.