Police reforms

Police corruption has been an endemic part of Pakistani society. A case in the Supreme Court pertaining to payments made to investigation officers and illegal appointments in the Sindh police has brought the matter back into the public eye. On Friday, the SC ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe the allegations of corruption over the next four weeks; the apex court also questioned whether it was appropriate that the current IG of the Sindh police remains in place. Following the SC’s order of a probe into the Sindh police, IGP Sindh Ghulam Haider Jamali was sacked. With the head of the Sindh police force having been sacked, there needs to be a thorough look into the corrupt practices of the entire police department. The directions came after a fact-finding committee probing the issue levelled serious allegations against senior police officers in the Sindh police. Allegations were exchanged between the committee and the now ex-Sindh IGP over exactly when the alleged illegal appointments were made. IGP Jamali was also accused of victimising police officers who were complying with court orders.

The IGP Sindh’s sacking will be used by the government to claim that appropriate action has been taken. However, the issues that are underpinning police departments across the country are nowhere near being addressed. Each year, Transparency International has ranked the Pakistani police force as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. Last year, a report by the anti-corruption department implicated around 842 officials of the Sindh police force in corrupt practices. The current NAB inquiry into the Sindh police force is limited in its scope. The Sindh government’s response of launching its own probe into illegal appointments in the police is more a case of reinventing the wheel, and rather farcical. Instead, the focus should be on serious police reform throughout the country. Changing faces in the police is not enough. Police corruption is a well-acknowledged fact that does not just pertain to appointments and investigation funds. Instead, it is the everyday interactions of citizens with the police force where monetary exchanges are an accepted principle of avoiding police harassment on both minor and major infractions. With the public now privy to the fact that a number of policemen have criminal records, there will need to be a much more serious, inclusive effort to reform Pakistan’s tainted police force.