| June 20, 2002 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1423 |
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
Showdown in Dera Bugti
Why this police apathy?
THE struggle to strengthen civil society in Pakistan had many failures and a few successes in the course of last year as revealed by Amnesty International’s recently issued annual report on the state of human rights. Political detentions, torture, custodial killings, violence against women and minorities, harassment of journalists, juvenile detentions and ill treatment of prisoners continued to bring a bad name to the country. The positive developments included the establishment of the local governments, separation of the judiciary from the executive, annulment by the Supreme Court of certain accountability law provisions to the benefit of the accused and the setting aside of a conviction of Benazir Bhutto in a corruption case citing bias on the part of the trial judge. The Sindh government ordered an end to torture by the police as part of the criminal investigation process. Islamabad’s decision to rein in religious extremists and banning collection of funds by the jihadi outfits was also a step in the right direction. Some of the street violence reported by Amnesty and the local rights groups was a direct fallout of the global war against terrorism and Pakistan joining hands with the American-led coalition operating against terrorist elements in Afghanistan.
Ours is clearly a society in slow, stumbling transition, where the modern crosses paths with the traditional values and practices. A number of social ills affecting the lives of millions of Pakistanis are deeply rooted in tribal and feudal customs that have no place in civil society. Violence against women is an obvious example, which gets widely reported every year by AI and other rights groups based in the country. This is because, besides its own sources, AI relies on the data collected by many non-governmental organizations operating at the grassroots level and interacting with the local communities, government agencies and functionaries. The data thus collected are often made available to the government at different levels, expecting it to take action to set a wrong right, and thereby, help strengthen civil society. Violence against women, children and minorities and ill treatment of prisoners in state-run and illegally operating private prisons across the country are the areas where the various NGOs working in these fields have made their presence felt over the years. But while these organizations have done their bit to create a certain level of awareness about social ills and civil rights of the individual, they cannot enforce the law, much less provide any relief to the victims.
Thus, in a society where tribal and feudal customs still rule the roost, it is important for the government to assert its authority on the side of justice and for protection against tyranny, oppression, abuses and exploitation. It seems the only way to move forward would be for the government to think in terms of putting in place some kind of a mechanism whereby the recommendations made to it by the NGOs in these important social spheres can reach the relevant authorities for timely and appropriate action. The need then is to make sure that corrective action follows. Side by side, the government would do well to take all such laws off the statute book that clearly discriminate against women and minorities, to name only two such categories of citizens whose rights are often violated, partly under the cover of certain controversial laws that are patently unjust, unfair and discriminatory in spirit and intent.
TENSION is running high in Balochistan’s Dera Bugti area, where paramilitary troops and local tribesmen have been engaged in a potentially dangerous stand-off. The Frontier Constabulary was recently dispatched to the strategically vital area following a series of rocket attacks on gas fields over the last two months. The attacks have caused extensive damage to a number of facilities in the area, causing huge losses to the exchequer. The area is currently under siege by the constabulary, who have blocked off all entrance and exit points. The authorities are demanding that those responsible for the attacks on the installations be handed over to face trial. The local tribesmen, however, deny their involvement in the incidents and claim they are being needlessly victimised. Violence of this nature is not new to the area, where Pakistan’s most vital oil and gas fields, including the well-known Sui gas fields, are located.
Over the years, successive governments have tried to appease the powerful local sardars with various inducements in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the installations. From time to time, however, the local tribes have felt aggrieved and demanded greater concessions. The authorities regard these spiralling demands as blackmailing tactics. The poor law and order situation has deterred most foreign companies from conducting further surveys and prospecting for natural gas and oil in this bleak but minerally rich region. Following the most recent outbreak of violence, the government seems to have decided that enough is enough. The federal authorities have ordered the provincial government to crack down on elements behind the attacks, regardless of the risk involved. In a region where most men are heavily armed, the stand-off can have dangerous consequences and lead to bloodshed. Both sides need to urgently resolve the matter through negotiations rather than allow matters to get out of hand. While the government should give a sympathetic hearing to the grievances of the locals, it should not allow a handful of powerful elements to resort to blackmail, especially given the strategic importance of the area.
THE failure of the NWFP police to make any headway in two separate cases — one involving an acid attack against a teenage girl and the other the murder of a young married woman — is symptomatic of the force’s inept and apathetic ways. A sixteen-year old student in Peshawar complained that the police have been anything but interested in moving against those who threw acid on her, despite the fact that she had lodged a formal FIR naming a local gang of young men. The girl, whose back has been burnt, says that the police took their time in registering the case and that since then have shown no interest in investigating the case. The unfortunate girl has gone through living hell, being forced to change her residence and restrict her outdoor movements because of the threat from the gang but none of its members have even been interrogated. The case of the murdered housewife seems to be faring no better either. The victim’s family has named her in-laws in the FIR and although over a month has passed since the murder, no one is said to have been either questioned or arrested.
Despite repeated public assertions by senior government functionaries and police officials that the police are there to serve the people, such indifference, especially in cases involving violence against women, is quite common. In many cases, even court orders passed in favour of victims are ignored by the police for monetary considerations or under pressure from local influentials. No wonder citizens are loathe to report matters to the police since those entrusted to uphold the law themselves often violate it with impunity.