Last week, a lot of Rawalpindi region policemen received transfer orders but many of them have stayed put defiantly. Region Police Officer Akhtar Omer Hayat Laleka, who issued the orders, seems helpless, although he had only acted upon new directives from Inspector General of Police Punjab Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera that policemen must not be posted in their home town, district or division.

Some traced the directives to the reforms agenda of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the idea was that higher in rank, farther away from his home a police officer should serve to prevent him from developing personal interests and likes and dislikes in his operational area.

But the reality behind RPO Laleka’s discomfort is that age-old use of police in service of political ends has entrenched the so-called ‘thana culture’ that the reformists wish to end.

Dr Shoaib Suddle, a respected retired officer of Pakistan Police Service, was quite blunt about that the other day.

“As long as the police are controlled by politicians, there will be no rule of law,” he said at the launch of a report, ‘Police, Politics and the People of Pakistan’, prepared by his colleague Tariq Khosa.

It is political pressure and the influence police officials wield within the force that frustrate the reformists and officers who are eager to implement new ideas.

There are officers in the Rawalpindi force who are not budged by transfer orders or corruption charges, while others have managed to get their transfer order reversed.

That is despite the police service rules that Punjab police chief Sukhera cited in his directives regarding transfers and postings, and orders to the Special Branch – the intelligence wing of police - to report him whether the regional, city and district police chief were following the directives ‘in true spirit’ or not.

Police sources say the purpose was to ensure the presence and availability of police personnel in Police Lines or police stations whenever they are required in the emergency situation.

IGP’s directives said that a police officer posted as Station House Officer (SHO) should not be changed for six months unless he was found involved in misconduct or extreme administrative negligence.

Old hands recall that the 2011 City Police Officer Fakhar Sultan Raja and Region Police officer Hamid Mukhtar Gondal were the first to try to transform the Rawalpindi police force into “a disciplined, responsible, accountable and public friendly force”.

They started the effort by carrying out surprise raids at the police lines and found hundreds of regular and specialised counterterrorism police personnel have been away from duty for months.

They transferred the DSP directly responsible for looking after the affairs of the police lines, along with several others, pending a departmental inquiry to fix the responsibility for the missing persons.

But the outcome was that the RPO himself was transferred and those he had transferred for negligence were all reinstated.

And the reason the personnel were “missing” was that they were local recruits and posted in their hometown against the police rules.

“Locally recruited policemen become incommunicado after their eight-hour duty and go home instead of the police lines they are supposed to,” informed a senior police officer who missed them badly in an emergency situation.

“Most probably they would have been busy in their private businesses, if not cultivating criminals. How else raids launched against criminals seldom find them,” he added bitterly.

Another bitter officer blamed the poor police performance, and the bad name it brings to “all those local hires who get postings in their hometowns”.

IGP Sukhera’s initiative could do a lot good, if implemented in true spirit, he said. “It will depoliticise the police and improve police working.”

Especially foot-constables and those posted in the security wing must be sent to serve away from their home districts.

“Some of them have proven saboteurs in fighting crime and criminals,” said a Rawalpindi police officer. A few were transferred on paper but stayed put “to do the bidding of their boss”.

Published in Dawn January 31st, 2015

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