Policing Reloaded

By Amir Zia
Monday, May 26, 2014
The News

The prime importance for Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and his team appears to get men of their choice to lead the police. The removal of Shahid Hayat is just another symptom of the grave ailment that continues to grip this anti-people and unfair system.
 
Additional Inspector General of Karachi Police Shahid Hayat had to bid adieu after remaining in office for less than nine months – a relatively long term for an officer in a city where many last on similar positions barely two to three months on an average.
The new man – Ghulam Qadir Thebo – is the sixth officer to assume charge of this coveted, but treacherous slot in a period of about 18 months. This means that the average lifespan of a Karachi police chief is barely 12 weeks, which highlights the prevalent ad hocism and uncertainty in the police force, assigned to combat crime and terrorism in one of the most dangerous mega-cities of the world.
Similarly, about a dozen inspector generals have come and gone over a period of six years in the Sindh Police – making their average stay in office no longer than six months.
Deputy inspectors general, senior superintendents, superintendents, their deputies and station house officers have much shorter terms. They are mostly appointed and then transferred or removed within weeks or a couple of months.
The brief ‘honeymoon’ phase is all an officer gets in any position in the Sindh Police. In this period, the officer naturally takes a few days to settle in the new job, attempts to build a team, gets some familiarity with the usual and unusual challenges of his assignment and by the time he enters the planning or implementation phase, there are marching orders for him. Then comes a new man, and the familiar cycle begins again.
Political bosses keep police officers on a tight leash – not to fight crime, but to follow their whims. Favourites are thrust on lucrative positions and officers who try to resist land on the sidelines. There are pressures to go soft on politically-connected criminals and killers, demands to set them free and even tamper with their First Investigative Reports so that they can get benefit of doubt in courts and thus walk free.
Ask any police officer and you will hear that political interference remains the worst predicament for the force under the PPP rule in the province. And unfortunately, there are hardly any hopes for an improvement.
Shahid Hayat’s removal is just another demonstration of how politicians have been keeping the police force hostage. As reported in the press, the Sindh government had been vying to get rid of him for the past several months.
The reason – he ruffled many sacred feathers since taking charge of his office on September 13. He resisted political appointments and transfers, tried to build a team of relatively clean officers to spearhead the operation against criminals and terrorists, went after Lyari gangsters – many of whom enjoy patronage of some PPP stalwarts – raided MQM offices and took on the Al-Qaeda-inspired local Taliban, who use Karachi to rest, regroup and raise funds through bank robberies, extortion, kidnappings and other crimes.
It was certainly not that Karachi became less dangerous or less lawless when Hayat was holding the fort. The number of street crimes, according to the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, jumped by nearly 20 percent during the last eight months, but at least the Karachi police had been taking initiatives and going to areas that were once considered out of bounds. 
As a result, there was a 35 percent drop in killings during the eight months of the operation, while extortion and kidnapping for ransom cases declined between 10 to 15 percent. Police killed 253 criminals during the first 248 days of the operation compared with 81 in the same number of days prior to the crackdown.
Given Karachi’s peculiar and complex demography, continued political interference in policing and the old nexus between criminals and politicians, it was no mean achievement for the police force which lacks both in numbers and equipment for a city of Karachi’s size. Yes, against the approved strength of 31,064, Karachi police only has 26,847 men and women on duty. This means that for 819 citizens, there is only one police official available here, compared with Lahore’s ratio of 337 per official, Delhi’s 291, New York’s 237 and London’s 152. 
Lahore with an estimated population of 10.9 million – almost half the size of our mega port city’s 22 million – has a police force of 32,600. 
While attempts to oust Shahid Hayat were frustrated by the federal government and the DG Sindh Rangers in the past, the PPP-led provincial government this time around used a Supreme Court order of May 9 that ordered the demotion of all government employees working on senior posts on ‘own pay scale’ (junior grade).
The Sindh government – known for poor governance, inefficiency and dragging its feet even on basic issues from providing timely relief to drought victims of Tharparkar to potable water in rural Sindh – in this case moved with haste to implement the court order.
It never occurred to the Sindh government’s bosses to take the administrative decision and make the slot of Karachi police chief a ‘floating-position’ for grade 20/21 officers as done by the other provincial governments, including Punjab, in their major cities. In the past, the Karachi police chief’s position was also for grade 20 officers as in the other provinces.
The Sindh government decided not to file a review petition in the honourable Supreme Court. Its mala fide intentions are revealed from the fact that the Supreme Court order was implemented selectively in the police department where around 20 officers of grade 18, including some of the favourites of former president Asif Ali Zardari, continue to serve in grade 19 positions.
Rules also allow appointment of a junior grade officer at a senior position if there is a genuine reason. In this case, the valid reason remains that the Sindh Police has only three grade 21 officers in its ranks against seven such positions. As a result, now four out of seven grade 21 positions, including that of CIA and traffic chiefs, are vacant.
This politically-loaded decision of a change of guard in the Karachi police team when the operation against criminals and terrorists is entering the third phase has rightly drawn criticism from the federal government. In a strongly-worded statement, Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed has said that Sindh government showed “irresponsible and non-serious behaviour” by removing Shahid Hayat. The decision has also created uncertainty in the police force, which has lost more than 100 men, including one SSP and six inspectors, during the operation.
Efforts to beat crime and terrorism are likely to take a hit in the city as the new team leader of the Karachi police will take his natural time to build his team amidst interference of the Sindh government, which wants to see officers of its choice on various positions – from DIGs to SHOs – a move resisted by Shahid Hayat.
Instead of initiating the much-needed police reforms, which should include doing away with the culture of political interference in the police force and giving it operational autonomy, the Sindh government has stuck to its tried, tested and failed methods aimed at serving vested interests of those PPP’s bigwigs known for their passion for promoting commercial interests or patronising crime mafias of Lyari.
The Sindh government would have served Karachi better had it taken steps to increase the strength of the police force and introduced a protection programme for witnesses and police officers in the forefront in fighting terrorism. 
The Karachi police need improvement in infrastructure including renovation of police stations and housing facilities. The force requires better training and human resource. It should be provided incentives of medical insurance and other welfare projects so that police personnel can face challenges with greater confidence. It must have modern equipment – from armoured personnel carriers to bulletproof jackets and communication network – to make Karachi a little less dangerous and a bit more liveable.
But all these vital steps remain low on Sindh government’s agenda. The prime importance for Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and his team appears to get men of their choice to lead the police. The removal of Shahid Hayat is just another symptom of the grave ailment that continues to grip this anti-people and unfair system.

The Unholy Nexus

By Amir Zia

May 19, 2014

The News 

In no other major city of Pakistan do we find this kind of criminalisation of politics and politicisation of crime. Karachi’s sheer population size and its diverse ethnic composition make the situation complicated against the backdrop of rampant corruption at the official level and past attempts by the security agencies to prop up one political or ethnic force against the other

Crime and politics usually go hand-in-hand in the urban jungle called Karachi. This has long been an open state secret in the land of the pure – a sort of fact that always remained in the knowledge, but seldom formally acknowledged, at the official level. 

Ask our elected lords and masters about the unholy nexus between crime and politics in Sindh – especially Karachi – and they will either indulge in self-denial or blame their rivals for this evil.

However, the hard fact remains that Sindh’s political parties – representing rural as well as urban areas – are mostly responsible for Karachi’s law and order woes. The PPP, its part-ally, part-rival the MQM, the ANP, the small Sindhi nationalist groups, the religious and sectarian parties – they all have contributed to our city’s plight, each according to its size and weight. 

Therefore, it was interesting to see on May 14 some of these very political stakeholders sitting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the top military brass that included Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to ponder over the law and order challenges of Karachi. The reported crux of the chief secretary Sindh and director general Sindh Rangers’ separate briefings on the occasion was how political patronage and interference in policing have been hampering the operation against criminals and terrorists from getting desired results.

The two briefings reportedly exposed the collapse of governance and administration under the PPP-led rule in Sindh since 2008, which should hardly be a revelation for former president Asif Ali Zardari, who was sitting next to the prime minister, and his other PPP top stalwarts including the Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah. 

Some of the figures presented during the briefings were an eye opener. For instance, out of the 1,747 hardened criminals arrested since the launch of the Karachi operation on September 5, only 27 have been convicted. The two major political parties – the PPP and the MQM – have proved to be the biggest hindrance for both the police and the Rangers, preventing them from performing their duties. 

The PPP ministers kept the pressure on the police force by their successful and unsuccessful attempts to bring police officers of their own choice on important slots and thus creating a sense of uncertainty among the senior members of the Karachi police team.

The provincial government even dragged its feet in issuing the red warrants for the arrest of notorious criminals who allegedly have connections with some of the members of the ruling party here.

The MQM kept the heat on through its series of protests and attempts to make the operation controversial, accusing the law-enforcement agencies of extrajudicial killings of its workers and their alleged forced disappearances. The Sindh government, on its part, failed to activate the four committees including monitoring and grievance committees that have to ensure the effectiveness and transparency of the operation.

If Army Chief Raheel Sharif made it clear that the operation won’t succeed until the political forces take its ownership for peace and rule of law in the city, the prime minister warned against allowing terrorists from using the ‘political umbrella.’

It is perhaps ironic that the push for peace and indiscriminate action against criminals is not coming from the two main stakeholders in Sindh’s politics, but from the federal government and the military. The political forces of Sindh appear as the reluctant partners in this operation, which prime minister has vowed to take to its next phase now. 

The reluctance of the local political players of Sindh seems understandable. Most of the extortion mafias operate their rackets in this teeming port city with the blessings of one or the other political, ethnic, religious or sectarian group. The encroachment of prized land is made possible here only under political patronage. These forces fight bloody turf wars. They kill rivals and dissident members of their own. Some openly allow thugs in their ranks to indulge in the deadly drug and weapons’ trade. The gun-wielding boys do all the dirty work of their political bosses and, when free, also take assignments of their own.

In a nutshell, most major political stakeholders of Karachi are a part of the problem of lawlessness, crime and violence. Their narrow vested interests and financial stakes are the biggest obstacles in establishing rule of law here.

In no other major city of Pakistan do we find this kind of criminalisation of politics and politicisation of crime. Karachi’s sheer population size and its diverse ethnic composition make the situation complicated against the backdrop of rampant corruption at the official level and past attempts by the security agencies to prop up one political or ethnic force against the other. And in doing this, our agencies have shown a lot of tolerance for crimes, acts of terrorism and killings committed by militants considered on the right side of the fence.

Is this going to change any time soon? Maybe…The army chief reportedly assured the civilian leaders of “100 percent” sincerity and cooperation in beating crime and lawlessness in Karachi, which is a heartening development. Prime Minister Sharif’s often repeated resolve to bring peace in Karachi should also raise expectations that the government will match its words with action.

In the past, many such high-level meetings did create a lot of hype and hope for peace, but the bitter fact remains that despite all such tall claims the ground reality in Karachi remained unchanged. The main reason for this remains the lack of political will that prevented any meaningful structural reforms mainly in the police, and the judiciary.

The police need to be freed from political interference and must be given operational independence. The government must also ensure that all the recruitment and appointments in the police force are on merit and officers are appointed for a fixed term.

Similarly, there is an urgent need to introduce modern investigation techniques, which cannot be done without changing the entire training manual of the police force. The old colonial-era system, which has been corrupted and tarnished over the years, won’t simply work in the present times. None of these recommendations are new. Many of our veteran police officers have been urging for such reforms for decades now. Is anyone listening? 

There also remains a dire need to set up more courts, including anti-terror courts, for speedy dispensation of justice. A witness-protection plan along with foolproof security for judges and prosecutors are also a must.

The government needs to remove the dichotomy in the legal system, which it has introduced by placing a moratorium on the death penalty. This only benefits people convicted for heinous crimes, including terrorism and murders.

Only a holistic approach, political will and structural reforms can help realise the dream of beating crime and terrorism. Our rulers have paid enough lip service to this cause. It is time for action. Let’s hope that this time the civil and military leadership does not end up disappointing the people.

 

Little By Little

Amir Zia

May 12, 2014

The News

We see confusion, polarisation and conflict escalating in the society, but the state appears unable to resolve these contradictions... Perhaps for the ruling elite of Pakistan, the party is not yet over

Slowly but surely the violent non-state actors are pushing Pakistan towards the brink. Little by little we are witnessing the state’s writ being eroded. Gradually Pakistani society’s descend into lawlessness is gaining momentum. And step by step Pakistan’s status as an internationally pariah state is being paved and cemented.

Our rulers may not agree with this cheerless account of today’s Pakistan. They may still think that they hold all the cards. They may still believe that they remain firmly in control. But living in self-denial and a make-believe world – no matter how grand – can’t stop Pakistan’s one-way backward march.

The reality is grim and the signs of the times ominous, underlining the weakening of the state authority. Yet, our lords and masters do not seem to see the writing on the wall.

The latest drag for the state has come in the form of the spurt in cases of the polio virus – thanks to our so-called holy warriors who declare the vaccination drive against this crippling disease a ‘western conspiracy’ to make our future generations infertile.

As a result, the goal of a polio-free Pakistan – which once appeared within reach in 1999-00 – now seems unattainable. Fourteen years down the road, as Sharif completes the first year of his third term in power, Pakistan is one of the only three countries – along with Syria and Cameroon – that threaten the world by exporting this virus to other countries.

UN efforts to eradicate polio globally by 2018 are being torpedoed mainly because of our Islamic republic’s inability to carry out effective vaccination drives in many parts of its territory – especially in the troubled tribal region. The outcome of this failure is manifested through 59 new polio cases so far this year in Pakistan out of the total 74 in all the 10 polio-affected countries. 

Out of the 59 local polio cases, 46 have been reported in the tribal belt where despite frequent appeals by both government and non-government quarters, the militants do not allow health workers to administer polio drops to children age five years and below. The Afghan Taliban militants are better in a sense as they facilitate the anti-polio campaign by holding temporary ceasefires. 

No wonder the WHO has now recommended polio vaccination a must for all Pakistanis travelling abroad. What does that mean for the country? It is not just simply a new obstacle for Pakistani travellers, but another triumph for the pro-Al-Qaeda local militants against the backdrop of the civil and military leadership’s near policy-paralysis on how to deal with the twin scourge of terrorism and extremism. It is another symbolic blow to this struggling state, which faces the greatest internal threat in its recent history.

The best our rulers have offered so far against this internal challenge remains half-hearted, incomplete reactive operations against militants and the self-defeating exercise of holding talks with them. There appears to be no roadmap for victory despite the immense sacrifices of Pakistani soldiers. There seems to be no urgency to end the prolonged conflict, which should have been the top item on the government’s agenda.

For all the different shades and colours of extremists, including the Al-Qaeda inspired militants, the triumph on the poliovirus front is not the first one against the Pakistani state. They have been expanding their influence and stifling the state called Pakistan in a gradual manner. For any country, this endless state of conflict is the worst case scenario as it results in fatigue and draining out of its resources. Our rulers seem oblivious to this age-old code of war and peace in politics.

The extremists, who have kept the initiative in this protracted conflict, have scored one symbolic psychological victory after the other as successive governments continued to debate and discuss whether to fight or not to fight.

The militants successfully banished international sports from Pakistan with the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team as our decision-makers tried to make a distinction between the ‘good and bad’ militants. The precarious state of security forced many western diplomatic missions to scale down operations and declare Pakistan a hardship posting but our successive rulers gloated over their ‘success’ of bringing in foreign aid, grants and loans – as they are doing now. 

Security concerns forced most foreign investors and businesspeople to stop visiting Pakistan, but our decision-makers claimed they had been reviving the economy. Footprints of almost every major incident of global terrorism led to Pakistan, but our politicians and decision-makers saw ‘a foreign hand’ behind many of our ills. Pakistan’s worst era of lawlessness and bloodletting at the hands of terrorists and extremists consumed thousands of lives, but our political parties kept arguing over whose war Pakistan has been fighting.

After sacrificing more than 4,000 soldiers in the northern tribal belt alone, Pakistani leaders still do not know the real enemy and remain undecided whether to fight or to talk.

While a segment of violent non-state actors and their foreign militant allies have taken on the state, creating their terrorist safe havens on Pakistani soil, many other extremists groups are waging their unholy wars against members of ‘rival’ sects or dissident voices within society.

The state and its institutions seem powerless as extremists commit one atrocity after another. It is the terrorists who are on the charge, while the ones who should be upholding the law remain on the defensive. 

Killing anyone by exploiting the sacred name of Islam is now easy. The government is surely to turn a blind eye towards the organised gangs of militants rather than provide justice to the victims and their families. It is an abject surrender by the state and its institutions.

The recent assassination of human rights activist Rashid Rehman in Multan is one more addition to the ever-growing list of victims killed because of their views. He was apparently killed for pleading the case of a man accused of blasphemy. His murder failed to create ripples in the society, barring a small vocal section of civil society members – many of whom themselves remain in the line of fire.

In the same long list of victims, we also have governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, who was killed by his own police guard because he too spoke about a controversial blasphemy case. The Pakistani state remains unable to prosecute his assassin in what is an open-and-shut case because of the fear of an organised minority. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We see confusion, polarisation and conflict escalating in the society, but the state appears unable to resolve these contradictions, which is vital for its own survival.

Perhaps for the ruling elite of Pakistan, the party is not yet over. There is still some opportunity to perpetuate rule and make money, but the state called Pakistan is being hollowed out bit by bit, little by little. 

There appears to be no political force in the ring that can turn the tide as gangs and bands of militants, terrorists and criminals hold sway. Tough times never seem to be over in the land called Pakistan.

 

The Real Issue

By Amir Zia  
The News
May 5, 2014

The biggest irony of the Hamid Mir episode is that amidst all these relevant or irrelevant questions and the blame game, the real issue is almost lost – the precarious state of law and order in Pakistan.

The brazen attack on Geo News’ anchorperson Hamid Mir should have highlighted the perils of being a journalist in Pakistan and galvanised media persons, but it has undeniably divided them. The attack should have helped bring all stakeholders, including media houses, political parties, the government and the armed forces on the same page against the challenges of rampant lawlessness, terrorism and violence, but instead it increased polarisation in the country.
The blame game is on. Who is a traitor and who is not? What is the national interest? Who remains its sole custodian and arbiter? Which institution transgressed its mandate? What should be the role of our spy agencies? What are the red lines for media houses? What is responsible journalism and what’s not?
The Jang/Geo Group – Pakistan’s biggest media house – is being dubbed a traitor and is being threatened amidst calls for banning its news channel and newspapers for what some can call irresponsible or sensational journalism in the aftermath of the attack on Hamid Mir – nothing less, nothing more.
Pakistan’s defamation laws, regulatory authorities and courts should be able to address this issue. If the laws are ineffective or regulatory authorities are weak and dysfunctional and fail to provide relief to an aggrieved individual or institution, the episode provides an opportunity to develop an effective legal framework – as has been done in all civilised societies where press freedom remains synonymous with responsible journalism.
People there can approach the justice system if they believe that they have been wronged by any media outlet. The application of defamation and libel laws is never selective or aimed to benefit the powerful alone, especially in the advanced democracies from where we have imported the concept of press freedom. Any private citizen manages to get swift justice there, unlike Pakistan where court cases drag on from grandfather to grandson.
If mudslinging and spreading unsubstantiated allegations is bad journalism – which it certainly is – then one Pakistani media group cannot be singled out for this offence. If one has triggered the wrath of Pakistan’s mightiest institution, others have been riding roughshod with lesser mortals, including the targeted vilification campaign directed against the Jang/Geo Group itself.
But bad journalism by others should be no excuse to follow suit. It is time for many of us in the media industry, including journalists, news managers, and owners, to be self-critical. Let’s reassert the basic universal values of journalism, which calls for accuracy, objectivity, balance and fairness in reporting. Yes, we have to be current, we have to be candid and at times controversial, but the most important of all the four ‘Cs’ of journalism remains credibility. As the old cliché of the world of journalists say that you are as good as your last story.
The debate on ethics and values of journalism, especially in the electronic media, has been raging within professionals even before the April 19 attack on Hamid Mir. It is time to do it in a more structured way by involving all the stakeholders, and develop not just a voluntary code of conduct but also recommend improvements in the defamation laws and regulatory framework. 
Responsible, factual and objective journalism, which keeps a demarcation between facts, opinions and allegations, remain the best way to protect press freedom. Effective laws against defamation and libel should not be seen as curbing press freedom, but protecting it. In every international media organisation the first lesson drilled in the minds of both reporters and desk-persons is how to avoid the pitfalls of defamation, libel and slander while reporting.
This ongoing blame game, barrage of allegations and counter-allegations and awarding tickets of being patriotic or unpatriotic will not lead us anywhere. It is time to do some serious soul searching and try to resolve the issue with maturity, restraint and sticking to the legal course.
Fanning public emotions with the help of various political and religious parties and wilfully or inadvertently taken unlawful steps against Jang/Geo – or any other group for that matter – is charting a dangerous course. Organised incidents of outright intimidation and harassment to vilification campaign against Jang/Geo and efforts to block the distribution of its newspapers or removing Geo News from the cables or pushing it on the lower slot are unlawful. Non-state actors and various illegal and legal pressure groups can take advantage of this situation to target and intimidate the media or for that matter any voice of dissent.
Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. It will become even more dangerous if our major stakeholders, including the top civil and military leaders, fail to take the lead in guaranteeing press freedom at every cost. So far the signs from the top are encouraging – from the prime minister to the army chief, all have vowed to protect the press freedom.
It is now necessary to put across this message down to the ranks. When legal means are available, disgruntled individuals should not be allowed to exploit the situation and target any media house – even if ‘right or wrong’, there are complaints against it.
The most urgent need is that civil and military leaders should take note of the direct threats to journalists affiliated with the Jang/Geo group and all the other media houses and try to ensure maximum security in this age of lawlessness.
Individuals, political parties or organisations have every right to boycott this or that newspaper or news channel. That is a matter of choice and also of readers’ or viewers’ preference. But trying to force this boycott on others in an organised manner to stifle a media group is setting a wrong precedent and should be seen as an effort to muzzle the independent press. 
The biggest irony of the Hamid Mir episode is that amidst all these relevant or irrelevant questions and the blame game, the real issue is almost lost – the precarious state of law and order in Pakistan.
This is a country where no one is safe – including journalists, who relatively enjoy a sort of a privileged status in the society. We have seen professionals, including doctors, teachers and lawyers, being systematically targeted in major cities by religious fanatics and extremists. Unsuspecting civilians – men, women and children – have been the victims of suicide bombings and other acts of terror. The unabated bloodletting has consumed senior government officials, politicians, religious scholars, clerics and students. There are scores of policemen who have been martyred in their line of duty.
Our soldiers and defence installations remain on the hit list of Al-Qaeda-inspired local militant groups, especially the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban with which our civilian government is locked in the so-called peace talks. From our senior-most officials of the armed forces down to the foot soldier, all have borne the brunt of terrorism.
The internal challenge of terrorism and extremism is the most crucial, life and death issue for today’s Pakistan. It is so unfortunate that this issue has been placed on the backburner and those institutions which remain the best bet for a democratic, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan appear to be at loggerheads with one another.
This situation benefits only the external and internal enemies of Pakistan. This strengthens only the forces of chaos and anarchy, trying to bring down the state of Pakistan from within. Who else but the military leadership has greater awareness of this grave challenge? It needs to keep this most important issue in the main national narrative – no matter what the distracters of Pakistan’s armed forces try to do in the covert or overt manner by bringing any secondary issues to the forefront. The armed forces and the people of Pakistan must stay on course.