As per media reports, Islamabad police is yet far from achieving its goals of purging the capital of car lifters and armed robbers as crime registered an upward trend in the heavily guarded federal city in the past week. According to details of crime review published in a newspaper, in the past week alone, the city’s various police stations registered nine cases of robbery, seven cases of auto theft, three cases of murder, two of kidnapping and 13 cases of dishonoured cheque. Moreover, car-lifters and robbers had a field day in the limits of Sihala, Aabpara, Karachi and Koral police stations. Conducive environment is essential not only for economic prosperity but also for political development and social cohesion. Being a primary law enforcement agency in capital, ICT police bears responsibility of provision of safety and security while controlling crime. Islamabad being a federal capital should have been a safer palace than any other parts in the country due to preferential treatment given by rulers but ground realities are contrary to this fact, belying tall claims of police of controlling crime. On the other side, some days ago, shocking news about running of private torture cells in capital was published. I am of the view that each and every criminal should be punished according to laid procedure of law and constitution but committing human rights violations are regrettable and punishable act. Departmental enquiries/actions need to be expedited against the delinquent officers/officials found involved in corrupt practices. All the accused persons should be dealt under the international standards of the human rights and the modern techniques can also be used during interrogation. A police constable carrying little respect for ethical and moral values cannot be true custodian of Human Rights besides he cannot uphold the supremacy of the law. During training, police recruits must be exposed to the ethics in law enforcement. In land of ours, observance of ethical values in police remained confined to individuals basically, and not institutions. Human Rights officers need to be appointed in all police stations to ensure fair and transparent conduct of police officials in line with international human rights standards, resulting in a people friendly culture.
Inam ul Haq
Chakwal
