FINALLY, the police department countrywide is being reformed, strangely under a yet-to-be-enacted Police Act 2002. It has been told to change the public perception about it — from an abetter of crime and criminals to what it is actually supposed to be: a crusader of law and justice. As part of a massive reorganization of the police department, which is being carried out in major cities, its structure is being revamped into three separate services, viz watch and ward, investigation and prosecution, with particular emphasis on investigation.

Islamabad has promised funds to implement these reforms. An amount of Rs1.9 billion was allocated for police reforms in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2001-2002. The federal interior minister said last week that Rs1.4 billion had been allocated for the purchase of vehicles and motorcycles (each investigation team would be given an automobile and two motorcycles) and another Rs1.3 billion had been earmarked for the setting up of five forensic laboratories in Islamabad and the four provincial capitals. (It is not clear whether this total of Rs2.7 billion is inclusive of the Rs1.9 billion allocated under the PSDP or separate from it.) In addition, President Musharraf had announced at the end of last month in Lahore an amount of Rs250 million for building new accommodation for police personnel in Punjab and another Rs20 million for the Police Welfare Trust.

But much of all this money has yet to be dispensed although the department has been told to start reforming. Still, all the above constitute paltry sums. The police department needs much more than this to really reform. President Musharraf himself said at a police darbar in Lahore on Jan 29 that Rs95 billion was needed to reorganize and equip the police into a fully professional force. Islamabad has promised funds for new equipment like vehicles and motorcycles, as well as money for investigation costs (the police have had to demand money from complainants for investigating cases because no funds are provided for investigation; one IG maintains that an average of Rs20,000 is needed for investigating a murder case). But the police department is also in dire need of proper buildings with sufficient rooms for its personnel (many police stations and posts are housed in small rented properties where decades of rent dues running into tens of lakhs of rupees remain unpaid).

Most important of all, for the police reforms to see success what needs to be reformed as well is the pay structure, service conditions and facilities for police personnel, especially from constable to inspector ranks. With a take-home salary of about Rs3,200 per month and a measly Rs60 for health allowance, what kind of service or duty can one expect from a police constable or sub-inspector who has a wife and three children to support?

For starters, their salary structure could be brought at par, for instance, with the Motorway Police, whose salary, strangely enough, is about twice that of the ordinary police. Apart from housing, other facilities and benefits like health cover and training will also need to be upgraded considerably if the police are to show any improvement in their performance and become an effective combat force against crime.

That the police has hitherto been nowhere near a professional force is blatantly obvious. The department has had more than its fair share of black sheep. So much so that common people were increasingly having to approach the courts just to seek justice against the action, or inaction, of the police.

One of many such cases was heard last week in the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench. An SHO had arrested two persons without investigation and official record (one of the victims was unceremoniously dragged from his bathroom straight into the police van, in the presence of his daughters). When a habeas corpus writ was filed in the high court, the SHO told the court he did not make the arrests. Witnesses appeared before the court and stated that he had made the arrests in their presence. The court had then to issue notice to the SSP who eventually produced the arrested persons in court, and informed that the SHO had kept them in his personal custody. A contempt notice was issued to the SHO for making a false statement.

Another frivolous case also came to court a couple of months back in which an SHO had illegally detained two boys who, while playing had accidentally hit the SHO with their ball. One boy was released after his parents paid the Rs20,000 demanded by the SHO. The parents of the other boy who could not afford to pay the amount, had to go through the trouble of seeking help from the court for their son’s release.

Last week, a judge in the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, castigated the police for not performing their duty, as a result of which citizens have to approach the courts just to get a case registered, which is their basic right. The judge had made these remarks while listening to the case of a petitioner who said that his car was stolen over two weeks back in Islamabad but the police had refused to register the theft.

Not only is such behaviour responsible for bringing a bad name to the police department, but the precious time of the court is being wasted in dealing with hundreds of thousands of cases which should not have had to come to court in the first place. Such unbecoming behaviour by police personnel should have been checked and stopped by their immediate superiors, as it is the function of the chain of command in any department or organization.

That this is not being done is a reflection of the utter failure of the chain of command in the police department in checking the abuse of power and misuse of authority by its personnel. For the police reforms to work, the chain of command will need to be made an effective check against corruption.

The performance of the police in any country is a mirror image of the performance of the government. Just as an effective police department is a reflection of good governance by the government, a police department that fails to protect citizens from crime and lawlessness is a reflection of not only bad governance but a lack of writ.

NEW DELHI: India and Russia have decided to upgrade their prevailing relationship to suit the new challenges confronting them.

A decision to this effect was taken last week when Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov stopped here for a day on his way to Kabul to participate in the post-Taliban reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Mr Ivanov’s stopover was followed by the visit of the deputy prime minister Mr Ilya Klebanov who is in charge of foreign military cooperation and is the co-chairman of the Indo-Russian intergovernmental commission on military technical cooperation, which had just completed a midterm review of the existing cooperation agreement, while Mr Ivanov is the co-chairman of the Indo-Russian governmental commission on trade.

The decision to diversify cooperation on military production, is intended for military hardware and equipment, to give teeth to the decision to extend cooperation in political issues.

Mr Ivanov and Mr Klebanov reminded media persons of the 1971 treaty of cooperation of friendship as well as its comprehensive spread. Mr Klebanov noted that the international scenario had changed much since the treaty was signed and the treaty was not valid any more.

He pointed out further that the two countries had now entered into an era of strategic partnership whereas the treaty had not stipulated joint responses to military threats. The most important aspect of the new understanding is on the joint development of high tech projects.

Signifying the new understanding embodying political identity of interests, Mr Ivanov emphasized the Russian endorsement of the Indian position on the Kashmir question and said that Pakistan should show concrete evidence of stopping infiltration of terrorists into the Kashmir valley.

He further said that only if this had been accomplished “would a conducive environment be created” for the resumption of dialogue in “accordance with the Simla agreement and the Lahore declaration.”

Apart from the situation in Asia, Mr Ivanov and Mr Jaswant Singh exchanged views on the unilateral pronouncements of the American President Mr George Bush on the threat to Iran and Iraq as “the axis of evil” as well as the hardening of the American position on the Middle East as well as the American withdrawal from Kabul. While Mr Singh did not elaborate on the abrogation of the ABM treaty by the administration, he did support the American stand that cuts in the numbers of weapons of mass destruction must be verifiable and irreversible.

Mr Ivanov also had a discussion about Russia, India and China but both sides agreed that there was need for cooperation on the tripartite level without, however, on a format of a “formal axis” and exchanges would be limited to issues of international questions.

This formulation is likely to be acceptable to the Chinese who have rejected outright the proposal for any format of a tripartite axis. Addressing a meeting of the Indo-Chinese Friendship Society, the Chinese ambassador here, Mr Hua Junduo said that he did not like the word “axis.” According to him, “while there were many common regional and international links and consultations on these are important, there is priority on our part to strengthen and improve bilateral relations.” In this context, he criticised President Bush for talking of an “axis of evil” and believed that the use of the phrase in this manner was not the way to conduct relations. India too seemed to take a similar view.

The spokeswoman of the ministry of external affairs felt that both Russia and India agreed that the three countries “can explore means of strengthening cooperation slowly and steadily. It is a move towards discussing issues of common concern. It is a noteworthy factor which we must keep in sight.”

Thus during an hour long exchange of views, Mr Klebanov discussed the need for trilateral cooperation with the central Asian republics and Iran specifically with regard to the rebuilding of Afghanistan. The subject had been discussed by Mr Ivanov.

Meanwhile, the Kazakhstan president, Mr Nursultan Nazarbayey, signed a joint declaration condemning terrorism with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. A joint declaration signed by the two said that the “global struggle against terrorism must also include those who instigate, assist or acquiesce as much as those who perpetuate terrorism.”

The statement also said that terrorism would not be “justified in any form for any cause or for any reason used as an excuse.”

Here on a five day visit, Mr Nazarbayey wanted an international forum to be set up to smooth out relations between the Central Asian republics, while noting that India had stepped up moves in recent months to step up military and economic ties with the central Asian republics.

Kazakhstan welcomed India’s membership of the Shanghai cooperation organisation as it would strengthen the organisation considering India’s proximity to the region and its active participation in global and regional matters.

These are the broad contours of the relationship which India is assiduously striving to work out through the series of strategic dialogues which Mr Jaswant Singh has been having in his visits to capitals of involved countries. It is for the first time since the end of the Cold War, rather the collapse of the Soviet Union, that India has been forced to look for new power alignments.

WATER crisis is the gravest problem faced by today’s Sindh, which has compelled the Sindhi dailies to comment on the controversy created by Punjab in the Indus River System Authority (Irsa). Kawish writes that Sindh’s irrigation experts have rejected Punjab’s demand for a new formula on water sharing and have demanded water distribution according to the 1991 Water Accord. These days water shortage is very acute and the situation is expected to worsen in the near future.

The dispute between the provinces on this issue has sharpened because of the opening of the Chashma Link Canal by Punjab at a time of acute scarcity of water and its insistence on water distribution under the controversial formula evolved by 1993’s ministerial committee. This situation led to the intervention of the chief executive’s secretariat which asked the provinces to sit together and evolve a consensus on this controversy. Ironically, this paved the way for Punjab’s demand for a new water-sharing formula.

However, Irsa (Indus River System Authority) has no constitutional or legal power to evolve a new formula. If the legal way for the evolution of a new formula is bypassed, its legal status will be suspicious. Despite having reservation on the 1991 accord, Sindh had accepted it in the greater national interest. Now that Punjab needs more water, it is demanding a new formula.

If a temporary adjustment in the water sharing is required, it must not lead to the abolition of 1991’s comprehensive accord. If water flow increases next year, shall we go for another accord then? Taking advantage of the present situation, Punjab wants such an accord as should provide more than its legitimate share of water.

Respecting the opinion of the growers and irrigation experts of the province, the Sindh government must not accept any new formula. It should also constitute a committee, comprising irrigation experts and headed by a permanent irrigation secretary, to monitor the water situation from time to time and advise it on the matter.

Awami Awaz proposes a special package for the revival of Sindh’s ailing economy. It suggests that agriculture should be given the status of an industry and immediate steps should be taken to revive the closed and ailing industrial units of the province. Besides, new agriculture-based industries should be established and cottage industries should be encouraged in rural areas so that unemployment, rising because of the decline in sowing of crops, could be controlled to some extent. Reports say that hurdles are being created in the establishment of new industries in the industrial state of Sindh Small Industries Corporation in Mirpurkhas. This should be done away with and more such estates should be established in other parts of the province. Sindh, which provides almost 70 per cent of federal revenue, deserves its special attention during these troubled times.

Tameer-i-Sindh deplores that the district governments seem to have failed to give priority to public problems. The councils of different districts are unnecessarily divided between so-called opposition and treasury benches and their sessions look like wrestling grounds as the elected members indulge, more often than not, in heated arguments on non-issues. Nazims and councillors should mend their ways and instead of wasting time on trivial matters should do something for resolving the problems of their areas.

Hilal-i-Pakistan laments the death of a girl student and injuries to two others after the roof of their classroom caved in at a primary school in the Garhi Yaseen taluka, Shikarpur district. On the other hand, according to Ibrat, many school buildings remain under occupation of influential people who use these as guest houses, cattle pens and godowns. Absentee teachers, negligent parents and myopic officials of the provincial education department have contributed to the declining quality of primary education to such an extent that the students find themselves in a very awkward situation when they arrive in secondary schools. If some long-term planning is not made to rescue our primary education, it might lead to the collapse of the entire education system.