By: Asem Mustafa
Contaminated water, failing and falling education and health system; there is nothing much that appears as a ray of hope for the commoner who is destined to die with misery and hunger
ISLAMABAD: The youth died of police torture and the parents of the youth have gone from pillar to post to get the accused arrested. The woman has made complaint against police official raping her daughter.
These reports have become everyday routine, news and insensitive policy makers remain unmoved of the poor’s predicament who continue to fall below the poverty line each day and have very little to improve their quality of life.
Contaminated water, failing and falling education and health system; there is nothing much that appears as a ray of hope for the commoner who is destined to die with misery and hunger.
This is the plight of the common man, the quest for justice takes ages and it is never there. The current case with Prime Minister Imran Khan asking for the probe may result in answers which are bound to be buried deep down in the official rigmaroles which will be in the bottomless pit never to see the sunlight.
The recent custodial killing spree added with rape and sodomy cases inside the police stations have raised questions from top hierarchy as when there will be an end to this tyranny. PM IK before taking charge promised ‘police reforms’ and there is nothing as such witnessed since his taking charge of the office. His swearing in ceremony gave a glimmer of hope to the people of Pakistan that there is something that is bound to happen which will be for the collective good for the masses.
Sadly with every passing day PM IK faces one hurdle after the other and people are left aghast to choose between devil and the deep sea. Crimes of extreme nature happen without any fear as the perpetrators are confident that they will get the bail and will not be punished for their actions against humanity. The whole of America took to streets on George Floyd’s murder and a global movement started with the slogan ‘Black Lives Matter’.
Prime Minister Imran Khan promises merit and justice for all without any pressure. This scribe with great regret put this blatant truth before the honorable PM that ‘unseen hurdles’ make his vociferous promise ‘die down’ and ‘mute’ in midair before it reaches the masses. Only two such incidents have been mentioned while the bleak and blatant truth is that every police picket and station has ‘blood streams’of the innocents oozing out from its very foundations. How many police officials have made headlines in getting hanged is news that is much awaited. The motorway rapist voluntarily submitted and was not caught; the murders at Model Town Lahore also had a fudged First Investigation Report which was pointed out by Pakistan AwamiTehreek leader DrTahir-ul-Qadri who holds a PhD in law.
These two incidents are well documented and have video footages. Sahiwal Murder Case is another one in the list.The question is was there any action taken against the ‘Model Town Killers’. The report stays as a national secret like so many other murders done at the hand of the force that was made as a ‘repressive unit’ to instill fear in the masses. How many more incidents should make the headlines for the policy makers to open their eyes which have remained ‘closed shut’ since long? If these eyes and ears have been opened these incidents wouldn’t have happened and no such inquiries have made the headlines.
The word countless inquires befits the government as these limitless inquiries end up in the bottomless pit of infinite incompetency.
Sadly there is not even a single officer in the force that could be called ‘outstanding’. Small petty crimes after getting solved requiring very nominal of skills are projected and highlighted in such a way which make the phrase coming to life ‘a mountain out of a molehill.’ The official count of custodial killings will always vary but a sweeping statement which is far less than that of the actual truth is there are not one but multiple killings on every picket which has been erected for public safety in Pakistan.
All the dead have been branded as terrorists, dacoits and thieves. The ones killed were unfortunate ones and were proved innocent after public pressure while the ones who avoided the picket went on to make successful dacoity the same day.
There are ways in which police moves and maneuvers and shift the onus of blame on the other party. This crafty practice has been for decades and this incorrigible and corrupt approach has made courts burdened with cases. Police along with Patwar (land revenue office) are the root cause of over 80 per cent of the court cases. It could be more and not less. The wrong marking in connivance with land officials results in Civil Case which is followed by Criminal Case as the one who is affected resorts to violence finding no way out and police makes money from both ends.
The much trumpeted police reforms by Prime Minister Imran Khan are still awaited while murders, rape continue unabated with usual news item ‘inquiries ordered’. Chief Ministers with no exception have ordered many an inquiries which often results in nothing but does the job in serving as sleeping pill for the masses who have been served with dead carcass meat and adulterated milk which is not an uncommon practice in the ‘land of the pure’.
The reports of adulterated milk getting discarded and hotel’s getting closed, serving dead animals meat in not an unknown phenomenon.This unchecked practice serves in killing the consciousness of the masses who stay unresponsive and unmoved of what happens around them. George Floyd was just one individual who rocked the entire United States and here in ‘land of the pure’ there are many people who have same fate as that George Floyd but their ‘custodial killings’ results in nothing.
Pakistan fortunately has people that have been so hard pressed, they have very little strength left after doing their day to day chores and the vicious cycle to keep them in the rut goes on to keep them like this deliberately. Giving little relief to the commoner in the ‘land of the pure’ is likely and most probably will result in having the hard pressed, poverty stricken individual reaching for the stars which the ‘powerful elite’ resent and detest most as ‘subservient slave of the system’ has no right to think big. The borders of Iran and Turkey have many a frozen and dead bodies of Pakistanis who dare to dream and died dreaming.