In spite of being threatened with dire consequences by Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, SHO Rana Rustam Ali courageously made it clear that he would not set at liberty a criminal on the verbal orders of the minister
LAST week, Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, landed in Jhang, his powerful family’s agro-industrial empire. Of all the federal ministers, an Interior Minister happens to be the most dreaded. He is looked up to by the entire cabinet, specially when it consists of the ministers drawn from landed aristocracy (invariably they always are). It is hard to make out how old Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat is. He, however, looks youthful. Thanks to a variety of hair-dye cosmetics available in the country, haggardly old men and women in Pakistan manage to look ridiculously young.
During his brief stay in Jhang, the Interior Minister attended a reception in his secured constituency. During the reception, his friends complained to him about the behaviour of SHO Rana Rustam Ali who had locked up their relative, Mohammed Saleem, ‘just for nothing’.
The Interior Minister there and then asked for the SHO who incidentally was around the spot on official duty. The minister asked him to release the apprehended man forthwith. The SHO, after narrating the circumstances leading to Mohammad Saleem’s arrest, refused to let go the culprit. The infuriated minister threatened the SHO of dire consequences in case he did not set Mohammed Saleem at liberty.
The SHO courageously made it clear to the minister that he would not set at liberty a criminal on the verbal orders of the minister. According to the newspaper report, hot words were exchanged between the Interior Minister and the SHO. Pending a departmental inquiry, no one knows what punishment would be awarded to the SHO for not obeying the orders of the Interior Minister, his ultimate boss.
An identical story comes from Sindh. Altaf Unar, an influential, powerful landlord from Larkana, is Revenue Minister of Sindh Province. He did not like his town’s District Police Officer, Sultan Khwaja, for he had always refused to carry out his orders. The situation aggravated when Sultan Khwaja ignored the instructions of the Revenue Minister in the posting and transfers of the police officers serving at various police stations in Larkana district.
Sultan Khwaja is a known disciplinarian. He has always thwarted interference from above in carrying out his official duties. Similarly, he is reputed to have refused to harass the political opponents of the ministers and the persons in authority. In a showdown of nerves recently, the police apprehended an alleged robber, Khadim Shaikh, who had snatched more than half-a-million rupees from a businessman in Larkana. Reportedly, the Revenue Minister contacted Sultan Khwaja, and advised him to let go the alleged robber. It requires extraordinary courage to annoy a demigod in his domain. Khwaja ignored the advice of the mighty minister. The enraged Revenue Minister of Sindh ultimately got rid of Sultan Khwaja, who has been sent back to Police Headquarters.
Sultan Khwaja must have been a boy four decades ago when the tall, tough and ruggedly handsome Dost Mohammad Channa had joined Sindh Police as ASI. Coming from an extremely humble background, Dost Mohammad was a bodybuilder, and a left arm fast bowler of considerable pace. Being a son of a hari (farmer), he had endured unbearable hardships, insults and humiliations along with his parents at the hands of the jagirdars and zamindars (landlords). Thus, he was not a rebel without a cause. He nurtured a meaningful revolt within his soul against the callous system.
After intensive training, Dost Mohammad was posted as Assistant Sub-inspector of Police, ASI, at Nabi Bagh Police Station, Karachi. One afternoon, Dost Mohammad heard hue and cry from an adjoining road. As he came out on the road, he bumped into a huge person running away from a small crowd that followed him from a safe distance, shouting “Pakro! Pakro!” (catch him). The giant, holding bloodstained daggers in both hands, suddenly charged at Dost like a mad bull.
The agile and athletic Dost leaped in the air and landed volleys of punches on the face of the giant. Before he could regain balance, Dost Moham-med lifted him, swung him and smashed him against the boundary wall of the police station. The giant collapsed.
The giant, Peja Khaba, was a hired assassin from Lahore. Soon after murdering an elderly couple, he was apprehended by Dost Mohammad who put him in the lockup. Thereafter, Dost began receiving telephone calls from important persons, including his own senior officers. They all asked him not to do anything silly and wait for the arrival of the police inspector in charge.
Sensing the inspector might set Peja Khaba at liberty, Dost registered a FIR against the killer of the couple, thereby making things difficult for the influential persons who aimed at helping Khaba get away with his crime. Then began an arduous battle between a lone wolf and the influential clique. Dost was implicated in a cobweb of cases.
The brokers kept pursuing Dost that if he disowned the FIR against Khaba in court, all cases initiated against him would be withdrawn. Dost did not give in under the tremendous pressure. He was sacked. He lost his job, but not his dignity in the estimate of his friends and well-wishers. He belonged to the core of fighters who prefer to die rather than surrender. Would Police Reforms bring back Dost Mohammad to the fold of his friends?
