GUJRAT, Oct 18: The fresh wave of terror at worship places in Sialkot, Multan and Lahore has brought into question the working of police intelligence wing comprising detective foot constables (DFCs).
There was a time when the DFCs were known for detecting blind cases, collecting information about proclaimed offenders, court deserters, army fugitives and miscreants involved in anti-state activities. Rules and regulations say that a police station should have at least two DFCs or their number should be determined keeping in view the area of police station.
Around 35 DFCs are deployed at 16 police stations in Gujrat and over 250 others are deputed at all police stations in the Gujranwala range.
Some of the duties of DFCs highlighted by police sources are: They will gather information and whereabouts of hardened wanted criminals, POs, court deserters and army fugitives. They will work to trace blind cases, including murder, dacoity and theft. They will collect details about men of every organization, including religious outfits of any sect and about gatherings of minorities. They will also gather information about drug-traffickers and gambling dens. They will collect diaries about speeches during Friday sermons and at other religious gatherings.
Till 1995, the DFCs were duty-bound to get information related to their duties and present a weekly report in writing directly to the SSP, now DPO.
On the basis of the weekly report, the SSP would issue instructions to the SHOs which were often embarrassing for the latter.
However, the practice of sending weekly reports to the SSPs has been in suspension for the last nine years and the DFCs are reporting the issues verbally to the SHOs. This practice, allegedly at the behest of SHOs, has made them corrupt.
Sources say the DFCs are allegedly collecting monthlies from drug peddlers and owners of gambling dens in their respective areas.
Following the arrest of some Al-Qaeda members from the precinct of Gujrat Civil Lines police station in July, IGP Saadatullah Khan had directed his subordinates to improve intelligence wing consisting of DFCs.
Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi had suspended the entire staff of Civil Lines, Lorry Adda and Shaheen police pickets for their failure to detect the presence of Al-Qaeda terrorists.
After the Oct 1 bomb blast in Sialkot, the Gujranwala Range DIG had directed all the six DPOs to make arrangements for a foolproof security at worship places.
In a letter, he said it was a matter of great concern that policemen deployed at sensitive places were not serious.
Despite the presence of policemen and security guards at Zainabia Mosque in Sialkot, the terrorists succeeded in entering it with explosives, leaving a question mark what policemen and security guards were doing there, the DIG was further quoted as saying.
There are around 1,700 mosques, 94 Imambargah, 21 churches and 20 Ahmadi centres in Gujrat district.
The total number of policemen in the district is 1,610 while half among them are supposed guard the places of worship.
Just two days before the Sialkot bomb blast, the DIG was quoted as having said in a letter to subordinates that with the passage of time, the districts had put instructions for implementation of the DFC system behind and nothing was done in this regard.
A police spokesman told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that implementation of the DFC system throughout the province was an uphill task.
He said the DFC system remained functional till 1990 due to low crime rate and the modus operandi attributed to old criminals and fugitives. For example, in case of a dacoity or theft, the DFCs had record of criminals of their areas besides being aware of their modus operandi. That's why they were able to catch them in most of the cases.
But now, he said, the crime graph was alarmingly high. He suggested that this system could be implemented only by increasing the number of DFCs in police stations whose duties must be no more than to glean intelligence which they should directly report to the DPOs.
To check the incidents of terrorism, the centre must establish a new department at the district level whose men could be appointed from the police department, he added.
INTERFERENCE: Political interference in the police department is the major reason which has resulted in poor administrative control and security lapses.
Sources requesting anonymity said that it had become a routine practice that political stalwarts of any district got appointed the DPO, SDPOs and SHOs of their own choice.
Giving a particular example, they said that Sialkot DPO Nisar Ahmad Saroya, suspended after the Sialkot bomb blast, was penalized earlier (made an OSD) in September 2002 by the governor when a Gujrat police party was caught in Naushera (NWFP) with illegal arms. He was then the Gujrat SSP.
A high-level inquiry later confirmed that the arms had been smuggled from the tribal areas to implicate innocent people and show recoveries. His previous record suggested that he, as Sukkur SSP, was suspended by the Sindh governor in 2001 for conducting unfair investigations in some cases of sensitive nature, they said.In 1990, he was transferred from Faisalabad to the central police office on public complaints, they said. A couple of years ago, his services had been placed at the disposal of the federal government for failing to discharge his duties honestly.
The high-ups, while neglecting his previous record, had appointed him the Sialkot DPO last year after the suspension of the then DPO in the jail tragedy, they added.