A decline in respect for law

By all

The way governments in Punjab and Sindh have interfered in appointments, placements and promotions of the police force has badly affected its performance, undermined its discipline and even brutalised it. In both the provinces governments have relied on blue-eyed boys in the force to suppress political opponents and carry out illegal orders. Some 14 PAT activists died in the Model Town police firing last year. Last week SSU personnel tried to arrest Zulfiqar Mirza, presently on the wrong side of the provincial government, from the SHC gate despite assurance by the government law officer that he would not be arrested. They brutally beat up Mirza’s guards, smashed their vehicles, and maltreated media reporters. Senior police officers failed to attend to SHC Registrar’s phone calls during the operation.

The killing of two lawyers in police firing in Daska is yet another example of the malaise and needs to be strongly condemned. The lawyers community was within its right to demand an enquiry into the killings and punishment for those involved. The resort to lawlessness by the protesters was uncalled for. There were reports of arson and of attacks on police officers. Lawyers attempted to forcibly enter the Punjab Assembly hall, set on fire a shed outside the building and overturned and damaged an Elite Force van outside LHC. In the wake of the success of 2007-09 lawyers’ non-violent movement, the community has developed a sense of power. This has over the last few years expressed itself several times in negative ways. It is time the lawyers’ organisations try to inculcate respect for law in the community whose strongest weapon should be argument rather than a club, a brick or a matchbox.

While the Sindh police acted wrongly by ignoring the SHC’s orders, Zulfiqar Mirza too needs to realise that it does not suit a politician to act like a gang leader, travelling with an entourage of armed toughs, forcing markets to close under threat and raiding police stations.