EXCEPT for Sindh, the police in every province are suddenly stronger by many thousand policemen. Punjab got back 4,610 of its policemen, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa received 3,000 and Balochistan about 900.

Paid out of the taxpayers’ money, these policemen had been unlawfully deployed to protect a select band of powerful friends, favourites, relatives and cronies.

This illegal activity had been going on for the past several years, reducing our police force to the level of personal servants and eroding its capacity to perform its primary job of protecting the citizens.

It is heartening to see the Supreme Court ordering an end to this unlawful malaise. It is, however, sad that the province where this disease is most rampant and an estimated 10,000 policemen are engaged in performing this demeaning function, has chosen to torpedo the Supreme Court orders.

By a back-dated letter, it has made a devious attempt to legitimise the police protection for all its friends and favourites.

The security situation can considerably improve in Pakistan if the state stops allocating thousands of policemen to protect the rich, powerful and a chosen few.

Let every citizen be equal before law and entitled to equal protection, as wisely stated in Article 25 of the Constitution.

Is Sindh listening?

Naeem Sadiq
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2018