A gladdening news has come from Rawalpindi. It says 49 police officials and employees, including a traffic warden, have been arrested for misuse of powers, backing criminals and under various charges during ongoing tenure of City Police Officer Mohammad Ahsan Younas.

This was perhaps the first time that a CPO ordered the registration of FIRs against police personnel and ordered their arrests.

A police spokesman has been quoted as saying that ever since the CPO assumed charge of his office in December 2019, he had pledged to take strict legal action against police officials found involved in crimes of patronizing criminals directly or indirectly.

He said such police personnel would be treated like accused and strict accountability process was initiated in Rawalpindi police.

A media report says that FIRs have been registered against 49 officers and employees of Rawalpindi police on various charges, including keeping people in illegal detention, torturing, operating gambling dens, supporting gamblers, attempted murder, murder, etc.

Police spokesman said all the police personnel nominated in the FIRs have been arrested – except one – for whom police raids were underway and hopefully he would be captured within next 24 hours.

Majority of the police officials involved in misuse of power and other crimes had been posted in different police stations of Potohar and Rawal divisions.

The honest and courageous CPO must be praised for uniform application of law against the very people who failed to uphold the law.

Th registration of cases against about four dozen policemen rekindles a ray of hope that all is not lost and that honest officials are still there in the police who will perform their duties according to the law, without fear or favour. Otherwise, there is a policeman behind every crime just like a woman is behind every great man.

Had the police really treated the criminals as the law wants them to, the crime graph in the country would have been much lower.

It is generally alleged that crimes in the precincts of a police station are committed with the connivance of the relevant police officials. It is for this reason that people say in jokes that if you want to eradicate crime, disband the police department.

The decline or growth of crime in a province or the country also depends on the policy of the rulers. If a ruler has zero tolerance for crime, everything will work according to the law.

President Ayub Khan had appointed Nawab of Kalabagh as governor of Punjab because of the latter’s capability to maintain law and order. Achha Shukarwala was then the king of the crime world. After taking over, the governor invited this notorious person to a dinner at the governor’s house, which took many by surprise. Achha was happy that he had been hosted by the governor, the top man of the province.

However, as the dinner came to an end, the governor told the crime lord that now either I would live in Lahore or you (the guest). A strong message delivered without mincing words brought the desired results. Accha disappeared from the city the very next day.

It is believed that if the SHOs are held responsible for crimes committed in their jurisdictions, the situation would improve within no time.

It is an open secret that most people join the police service because it provides them ample opportunities to commit crime, extort money from criminals and settle scores with their opponents. Few people are in this service to uproot crime or do a national service.

People know that prostitution centres are working in the city in the guise of massage centres. These centres send messages to their likely customers that massage is performed by female staff.

Nobody can proceed against these centres because they have the backing of influential people. (The writer once advised a friend to expose these centres as he was in a position to do this. But he expressed his helplessness, saying very powerful people are involved in this dirty business.

Needless to point out that the country has tremendous potential to make progress in all walks of life – provided the crime is controlled. But who will bell the cat is the real question?

 

               

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOavNaBX4NU