Coming one after another, the Kharotabad killings and the Karachi incident tell that there is something wrong with the training of the security forces. Unfortunately there is no tradition among government leaders and heads of important institutions and agencies of owning responsibility for big failures that cause widespread concern in Pakistan or tarnish its image abroad. The practice is to first try to cover up the matter through departmental enquiries aimed at exonerating the institution and its leadership. Demands for independent investigation are brushed aside citing hazards it might pose to national security. Whenever one of the high and mighty announces his willingness to resign, it is understood that he has already ensured that his superiors, carrying burdens of similar high responsibilities, would stop him from the act fearing that in case the tradition is once established they too might one day be required to quit.
The high-ups in Rangers and Police followed the routine practice after the barbaric killing of Sarfraz Shah in Karachi. Neither DG Rangers nor IGP Sindh meditated for a moment to resign. The former did not even allow the police to arrest the culprits till intervention from the highest quarters in Islamabad left him no other option. The rest of the five or six security personnel who had caught hold of the deceased were not remanded to custody whereas if they had been civilians, they would have been immediately booked for assisting in the crime. The IGP on his part tried to save both “the reputation” of the law enforcement agency and the neck of the accused. The police subsequently registered three FIRs at different times to try to weaken what was a clear murder case.
Finding that it was not possible to hold an independent enquiry in the presence of the incumbent DG Rangers and IGP Sindh, the SC has ordered their transfer. This brings in those who would not like any heads to roll irrespective of their shortcomings. A report tells of the Sindh government not willing to remove the officers. Anyone trying to prove that the Rangers rather than Sarfraz Shah were the real victim will only add to public anger and resentment.
