HYDERABAD: Speakers at a seminar on ‘Policing and role of community’ emphasised the need for de-politicising and capacity building of the department to ensure an effective policing.

The seminar was organised at a local hotel by the Centre of Research and Security Studies on Tuesday.

The speakers also discussed issues confronting police across Sindh.

Presiding over the seminar, former civil servant Gul Mohammad Umrani said that since Sindh and Balochistan shared feudal mindset that was why Musharraf’s police system was done away with and 1861 Police Act was re-introduced as it suited the mindset under present conditions in which senior police officers were subservient to politicians.

Opposing the Musharraf’s decision of disbanding district magistracy, he said that during colonial era, district magistrate used to write confidential report of senior police officers.

No one talked about good governance because everyone wanted to avoid transparency and accountability, said Umrani who served as district magistrate for over a decade.

He criticised the Sindh government’s performance, saying that it could be seen on social websites alone. He blamed elected representatives for setting trend of providing jobs to their kith and kin in police or administration to protect themselves, their interests or avoid accountability. He said improvement without de-politicisation of police and administration was impossible.

He said corruption in police started when members of the provincial assembly started appointment of their brothers in police and administration.

If police were made independent and empowered, they could turn things around, he said, suggesting that politics and police needed to be separated to make the police institution neutral.

Talking about contradictions in society, Hyderabad Police Range DIG Sanaullah Abbasi said corrupt talked about honesty while criminals held press conferences to raise a hue and cry about lawlessness.

He said it was an irony that what people’s words did not conform to their deeds; they exposed others, but hid truth about themselves. Pakistan had become a market where everything was saleable, he said.

He, however, strongly supported capacity building of police. He called for qualitative improvement in police and not quantitative. He supported Free Trial Act, calling for its implementation.

He said the law that governed conflict of interests should be introduced so that politicians, government employees, including police, could not get involved in business.

He said that like CPLC, a third party oversight was necessary in police stations.

MPA Rana Siddiqui argued that tribal and feudal mindset was deeply rooted in the system of Sindh, therefore, a strong and honest police force was direly needed.

She called for appointment of women in police to end gender discrimination. Police needed to be given better salary packages, she added.

Chairman of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s sub committee on law and order, Qayyum Nusrat, said the city with a three million population was being managed by only 900 policemen. He said it was contributing to lawlessness and situation became more serious in the absence of required resources.

HRCP representative Dr Ashothama said police force was formed during colonial period to rope in opponents, but now things had been changed and this force must become a strong institution. He urged community to strengthen this force also by playing its role.

Among others who spoke on the occasion included Dr Qasim Farid of the CPLC, Aslam Channa, M Parkash advocate and Dr Dilip Doultani and senior journalists Ali Hassan, Ayoub Leghari and Shahid Shaikh.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014