October 06, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 23, 1428

FAISALABAD, Oct 5: Much trumpeted police reforms have failed to rescue people from police’s highhandedness as courts have to intervene to get people released from illegal detention of the police, Dawn has learnt.

Faisalabad was declared city district government before the local body elections and several posts were created in the Police Department to serve people. At present the district houses Additional Inspector General (AIG) Talat Mehmood, Deputy DIG (operations) Mohammad Aslam Tareen and DIG (investigation) Zahid Mehmood.

Despite the presence of such senior officials in the district, every other day the district and sessions court judge has to set up bailiffs to get people rescued from police stations or even from private outhouses of police officers.

But police officers accused of detaining people illegally are still working in the police stations where people were rescued by bailiffs. Most of the detained people were subjected to torture.

Eight-year-old Aun Muhammad, a class three student, was detained by the Saddar police station on Sept 5. His father Abbas Shah, of Chak 237-RB in Khuddian Warraichan, sought the intervention of the district and sessions court judge through a habeas corpus petition. The judge formed a bailiff that found the boy in the wireless operator’s room. Abbas asked court to punish the police employees who had abused and tortured the boy.

The judge summoned the police officers on Sept 6. Police came into action again and on Sept 6 the parents of Aun came to court but to pardon the officers.

Three boys — Talat, Rizwan and Tariq — were found on Sept 22 in the detention of Tariqabad police special squad.

Sources say sometimes family members of the people rescued from the illegal detention of the police have to face the wrath of police employees. If someone moves court seeking action against police officials accused of detaining people illegally, police fabricate cases against the complainant.

Batala Colony police station employees implicated Muhammad Asif of Malikpur and his four friends in a false case. Asif struggled for the release of his brother Talat with the assistance of session’s court but he along with his friends — Majid, Rizwan Naveed and Tariq Abbas — was implicated in a case of heinous crime.

A police officer, requesting anonymity, said they had no option but to arrest the family members of proclaimed offenders and court absconders to pressure them to surrender.

Playing a tricky game, sources say, senior police officials only issue a directive warning their subordinates to stop illegal detentions. Such directives are aimed at saving the police officials’ skin from the wrath of provincial government or courts.

Such directives instruct police officials that they will be responsible if any person is found illegally detained in their police stations.

DIG (operations) Mohammad Aslam Tareen told Dawn police employees found guilty of detaining people illegally were being punished, and efforts were on to end the trend.