Despite the dismal performance of law enforcement agencies in containing the law and order situation in the province, particularly targeted killings, the Sindh government is sticking with spending almost the same amount of funds on them as of last year – Rs 31.455 billion in the next fiscal year as compared to last year’s Rs 33.333 billion, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Well-placed sources in the Sindh government told Pakistan Today that only during the outgoing fiscal year of 2010-11, the police force was provided with new patrolling cars, besides luxurious vehicles were purchased for the police high-ups; however, no pragmatic efforts were witnessed on ground aimed at ensuring the safety and security of human lives.
They were of the opinion that the recent extrajudicial murder of Sarfaraz Shah by the Pakistan Rangers-Sindh personnel and the ensuing performance of the police on the matter, suggests that the law enforcers are only working for their own colleagues [law enforcers] instead of protecting the common citizens.
With hundreds of people in the metropolis becoming victims of targeted killings in the past three years, the question arises that will the spending of such huge funds on the law enforcement agencies, especially the police, guarantee safety and security of human lives and property?
In 2010-11, the Sindh government spent at least Rs 33.333 billion on the police against an estimated amount of Rs 30.517 billion, out of which Rs 30.396 billion had been spent on the police force alone, against its estimated budget of Rs 28.177 billion.
And with only a minor change in numbers, the government will again utilise Rs 30.368 billion on the police department during the fiscal year 2011-12. Moreover, an amount of Rs 253.470 million would be spent on the Sindh police’s Crime Investigation Department as against the last year’s allocation of Rs 238.359 million. An additional Rs 800.566 million would also be spent on imparting training to the police as compared to the last year’s amount of Rs 865.546 million.
Interestingly, in the next budget, no funds have been allocated for Rangers and Frontier Corps platoons; however, the amount utilised on the forces in the last year was Rs 1.806 billion.