The elite forces were a joke – now, they’re a disaster
Newspapers receive outraged letters each day about the GoP’s elite police force. Corruption, bribery and assault are just a few of the grievances outraged citizens pour into their letters. Friday’s reports proved though that the Pakistani police, the usual (if less than willing) butt of the joke, seem determined to stop the giggles — even if they have to shoot you down.
Like all police stories, the details here are a little murky, but the facts are that Taimoor Riaz was shot by members of Islamabad’s elite “Eagle” Police Force near Sabzi Mandi, Islamabad, as he and his passenger sped by a police check-post on Friday. It’s rumoured that Taimoor was intoxicated, that his passenger was a woman (they may have been romantically involved), that the police didtry to stop them – but here’s what we do know: there’s CCTV footage, Taimoor is dead, and the shooter – a policeman – fled the scene.
The FIR filed against the shooter could result in the death penalty – ensuring that this shooting ruins the lives of more than one family and the reputation of more than one organisation. This force is an extension of the government. This affair thus marks the government’s experiment’s failure. Because Pakistan’s moral brigade’s judgment notwithstanding, scandalous affairs, intoxication and refusing to stop at check posts may be punishable by law but their sentencescannot be carried out by trigger happy men in uniform.
It has been the oft-stated opinion of this paper that this government – and our people — would be better off focusing less on high profile projects and more on their quality. Serious measures to educate and train the police must take precedence over merely equipping them. The governments’ vows to improve their respective police forces went a long way towards raising peoples’ expectations in 2013. What goes up, though, must come down, and as PML-N gears up for another election, Pakistanis should really learn to manage their expectations better – particularly when it comes to our police force, and the people who arm it.