Punjab and Sindh’s mischief regarding top appointments
The PML-N dominated Punjab and PPP – ruled Sindh governments have, it seems, another dubious common denominator besides rampant corruption – indeed the two are inter-related – and that is their keenness to appoint a blue-eyed boy, of course in the metaphorical, not the Aryan sense, as police chief in their provinces.
Two immediate events have highlighted this unfortunate state of affairs, which must cause much heart burning, confusion and sagging morale in all echelons of the force tasked with keeping law and order, prevent crime and protect people and property. One indicator that ‘our finest’ have flopped abysmally in performance of those functions that are their very raison d’etre, and which many sullen, dissatisfied citizen will vouch for, is the infamous ‘thana culture’ which has become the hallmark of the police, apart from incompetence and mercenary ways. There is always a heavy price to be paid when merit is callously ignored and malleable individuals favoured. Lawlessness becomes the order of the day.
A miffed Lahore High Court on Tuesday suspended the Punjab government notification making the acting IGP permanent, terming it a joke played on the judiciary. The court had directed the federal and Punjab governments on May 12 to appoint a permanent chief in light of the Police Order 2002 within a month, but the matter was treated light-heartedly and deliberately dragged on, and when the desired orders were finally passed yesterday, the concerned official had just till this November before his retirement. Flagrant ad-hocism (including repeated extensions) is the name of the game and the ends behind such deviousness are invariably, advantage at election time, roughing up opponents a la Jamshed Dasti, facilitating staged encounters and settling personal scores. In Sindh, an upright and conscientious IGP only retains his precarious position on the strength of a Sindh High Court order, but the government has spitefully clipped his wings by stripping him of the powers of transfer and posting. Sir Robert Peel, who created the first British police force in 1829, must be turning in his grave.