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August 17, 2006
Encountering the truth
The seminar on ‘Police Encounters: allegations and reality’ remained inconclusive till the end and reflected the mistrust that exists between the citizens and the police department, reports Faiza Ilyas
Extra-judicial killings have become a major concern in society. It is believed that this brutal method, which is often carried out through fake police encounters is adopted to eliminate suspected criminals to avoid a lengthy judicial process. In the last six months, 30 cases of extra-judicial killings have been reported in Punjab alone. Interestingly, in none of the cases have the officials, responsible, been taken to task.
Recently, two cases of staged ‘police encounters’ surfaced in Karachi in which innocent men were killed. In the first case, a man was killed as a notorious dacoit by Lyari Task Force in Gadap and was later found to be someone completely different after an inquiry. In the other case, a suspected robber was taken out of a police mobile and shot dead.
To present the viewpoint of police, Niaz Ahmed Siddiqi, Capital City Police Officer, Karachi, was invited to speak on police encounters in general and these two cases in particular in the seminar on Police Encounters: Allegations and Reality, organised by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) for journalists at its media library.
To the disappointment of the audience, the main speaker, the CCPO Karachi couldn’t make it to the event and Zafar Ahmed Farooqui, DIG Administration Capital City Police Karachi, turned up instead. Farooqui couldn’t add anything to what the journalists already knew about the two cases and refused to answer any questions on behalf of the CCPO. He also could not explain the torture marks on the body of Rasool Bux Brohi, another victim of fake police encounter. Farooqui rejected the allegation that there were torture cells in police stations despite being reminded of the government order instructing closure of torture cells. About the number of police encounters that have taken place in the last few years, Farooqui said that the Karachi police killed 304 dacoits in 1,592 encounters from January 2002 to July 2006. Of the 1,592 police encounters, only one was doubtful while the rest were genuine.
During the same period, a total of 226 cases were registered against the police officials under Police Order 2002 while 59 cases were registered against them on court orders for violating rules and regulations, misconduct and negligence. However, Farooqui failed to mention a single case in which a police official was convicted and sentenced by the court for his wrongdoing. “Under article 155 of Police Order 2002, some 226 cases were registered by the police against their own colleagues while 59 were lodged on court orders. All of them are yet to be decided by the courts.”
The seminar, which remained inconclusive till the end, was reflective of the huge mistrust that exists between the citizens and the police department. One may also want to point out that while the police officials have the right to defend themselves, they should also realise the moral obligation upon them to apologise to the families, which they admit are devastated by the callous actions of their colleagues, and compensate their losses.
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