Karachi situation

By
Editorial
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108
135

Rangers vs police

 

Karachi police no doubt suffers from numerous shortcomings which have had a negative impact on its performance. For years recruitment has been made on political basis. Appointments and promotions have depended more on government patronage than efficiency. In cases the ruling parties’ blue eyed boys have continued to be promoted while facing serious criminal cases in courts. Corruption is rampant and police personnel have been found involved in kidnappings for ransom. The police performance has also suffered from factors beyond the control of the force. Karachi population has expanded rapidly without adequate expansion in police staff. While expected to deal with corporate crime and terrorism besides routine offences police have neither been provided required training nor the modern equipment for intelligence gathering. The department dealing with prosecution badly lacks trained staff.

The impatience on the part of DG Karachi Rangers is understandable provided it remains within limits. It goes to the credit of better equipped Rangers that crime rate has significantly declined in the city. This should not however make one ignore the work done by police officers connected with intelligence collection and analysis who identified those behind Shikarpur terrorist attack and Safoora killings in weeks. Their competence has been duly acknowledged among others by the COAS. Despite the contribution to Karachi peace by the Rangers, the way they handled Dr Asim Hussain’s case does not inspire confidence in their ability to prosecute.

The establishment needs to realise that there is no alternative to an elected civilian government despite its shortcomings. Similarly crime in urban centres, or for that matter rural areas, can best be dealt with by police force which needs to be highly professional, better equipped and recruited on merit. The Rangers cannot be assigned the duties of crime control in cities on a permanent basis. The police recruited from local population keeps its ears to the ground while Rangers coming from other provinces sometimes fails to take note of local sensitivities which can give birth to fresh grievances.

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108 COMMENTS

  1. The elected governments have short comings. What in reality are criminal practices, you call them short comings. If appointments are made on political basis and promotions on political patronage, then how will your police be able to recruit on merit, become highly professional and better equipped. It is precisely your elected governments short comings that wont allow the establishment of proper and capable police. With out a proper police, properly enforcing the rule of of law, Karachi will always remain a crime jungle.
    The very root cause of Karachi's woes are the criminal short comings of your elected governments and the second cause are people like you who believe in elected government with short comings.

    • The rot in the country is because of these 'democratically elected representatives'. They come to the Assemblies not to serve the people but to make money and go back with heavy Bank balance – more outside the country than inside.

  2. The Editorial contains a lot controversial. On recruitment, training, and performance as a whole. Why was it felt necessary to bring in the Rangers to maintain L&O in Karachi in the first place. A simple answer is because the Police miserably failed to control crime. They have a full-fledged Training Center like any Army Training Center and produces trained Policemen. It is only after they are inducted into service and become part of crime rather than controlling. This is because they see and follow their seniors. It is highly politicized and criminalized too. Send Rangers back to the barracks once and see what happens. Wait because they are not there permanently.

  107. I haven’t read the article properly leading to this forum comments. Independent of this article. I have my own stirring comment to make. The Sind government should allow the Rangers to establish its own policing structure which means having their own police offices ( thanas) having the right to incarcerate criminals and present them to courts for judical remand. To have their own attorneys and prosecutors to prosecute criminals of all shapes and deamenours.
    This would give sindh government plenty of time to reform police structure , remove corrupt and criminal police force and train new badge of young educated cadets in police.

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