KARACHI: The United States announced an $11 million assistance to develop the city’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring system, during a book launch at the Central Police Office on Tuesday.

Assistant Secretary of State of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) William R. Brownfield made this announcement as part of an added assistance provided by the INL to the Sindh police apart from a $500,000 project assisting its Sindh curriculum development programme (SCDP).

The training module, ‘Protecting Human Rights’, was launched a day before the World Human Rights Day and is a part of the SCDP.

Led by DIG-South Abdul Khalique Sheikh, the training module is one of the four training components focusing on the safety of policemen, basic investigations and forensics.

The launching ceremony was held at the Central Police Office around noon in the presence of former police chiefs of Sindh, members of the US Consulate General, civil rights groups and the media.

Speaking about the module, DIG Sheikh said, “It is an important day for us. As police officers we face many challenges, foremost among them is the training of officers, which remains neglected. Many a time we have been told to improve the standards of the curriculum our officers are taught, but very few came up with ideas to correct the prevailing standards, until this book.”

Explaining further, he said that many a time police officers were blamed for focusing too much on equipment, vehicles and the infrastructure, adding that the value of training remained as important as ever.

Sharing the stage with the DIG, while he made his speech, was Assistant Secretary Brownfield, Inspector General of Police Ghulam Hyder Jamali and US Consul General Brian Heath.

Speaking about the experience of compiling the book, authored by former IGP Sindh Niaz Ahmed Siddiki and Iqbal Ahmed Detho, DIG Sheikh said that they had an eight-member team that looked after various aspects of human rights. “One usually hears about a criminologist’s perspective or a psychologist’s on policing and crime, but never a police officer’s. The case studies that we chose for the book are ideas that can fit in our local context,” he said.

He added that it was an amalgamation of best practices on the field as well as the flaws that police officers came across while following cases.

The book, written in English at the moment, will be translated into Urdu and Sindhi, the audience was informed.

Speaking on the chapters of the book, author Niaz Siddiki said that from its colonial inception in the subcontinent, the police were infamous for using unfettered force which worked against the community.

Instances of police torture, custodial deaths and enforced disappearances tarnished the image of the police department. There are 14 interactive sessions in the book focusing on the rights of the victims, crime investigation and human rights, women and child rights, rights of the minorities, including a chapter on forced conversions, enforced disappearances, keeping the privacy of a woman during a case of sexual harassment and maintaining the writ of habeas corpus in Pakistan, among others.

Co-author Iqbal Ahmed Detho spoke about the importance of integrated efforts in following up human rights cases. For that to happen, civil society and rights groups would have to make a concerted effort to push the state machinery for answers, he added.

Speaking about the trust deficit between the police and the community, he said, incidents such as the ones in Lahore where blind people were baton charged by the police dented the relations. “Human rights is an all-encompassing idea, which is not exclusive to any region or religion,” he concluded.

Mr Brownfield said that the police needed support and assistance as much as any other institution.

He said a properly equipped and salaried officer would not commit human rights violations. “Whether it is Missouri or Karachi, the duty of a cop remains the same, to not become a party in a crime. And to ensure that we need to support them as much as possible,” he added.

Published in Dawn December 10th , 2014