Law enforcement must be improved
There has been a great deal of rhetoric coming from the VVIPs who visited the residence of the slain Punjab Governor to share concern with the family over the kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer. But four days have passed and the police remains clueless about the abductors.
Both Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif had instructed the law enforcement agencies to ensure early recovery of the kidnapped young man. And there was a ready-made response from the police high-ups: We have deployed security at the residence of the former Governor, all the entry and exit points in Lahore have been sealed, investigating teams have been set up and they are interrogating the suspects.
As Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah virtually went into hiding after making an irresponsible statement within minutes of the incident, Governor Punjab Sardar Latif Khosa continues to accuse the Punjab government of not putting in its best effort for Mr Taseer’s recovery. A news report quoted him as expressing dissatisfaction over the ‘slow pace’ of the investigation into the incident. His observation was based on the fact that the special teams constituted by the IG Punjab Police have so far been able to interrogate two servants and seven employees of the company owned by the Taseer family.
The bitter exchange between the top provincial authorities notwithstanding, a sharp rise in kidnapping and daylight robberies is a serious comment on those who do not tire of claiming to have established good governance in the country’s largest province over the last three years.
The government needs to focus on improving the efficiency of its law enforcement agencies rather than continuing to shift the blame on high-profile targets for not taking sufficient security measures while travelling from one place to another. It is time the provincial administration took immediate measures to contain the rising tide of crime in the Punjab.
