How can police be reformed?

In the presence of over a century-old Police Act, 1861 instead of the Police Order, 2002, no improvement can be brought in the department merely through fresh recruitment even under army supervision or by hiring 2,000 ex-servicemen without making it a modern and professional force, free of political interference.

Police can neither be reformed nor depoliticised without changing the basic mindset about Karachi that it’s a multi-ethnic city of 25 million, needing a truly metropolitan status like New York or London.

The decisions taken in back-to-back meetings this week – including the one chaired by Gen Raheel Sharif at corps headquarters and the apex committee meeting at CM House - are important to improve law and order, but before formalising a recruitment policy, it is important to look into the issue of old police order and why the Sindh government had enforced the 1861 Police Act, instead of the Police Order, 2002 which provides a solution to the problem through National Public Safety Commission.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa model, which is close to the original Police Order, 2002, provides the way forward to make police non-political and a professional force. Though it still has lot of good officers and jawans, hundreds of personnel are being probed for their links with criminals or having criminal record.

Karachi needs a complete package ‘Karachi Action Plan’ and highly-effective police reforms. It’s neither a lengthy procedure nor a huge exercise.

Recruitment could be made through Public Safety Commission, while seeking army's help for training to combat terrorism and street crimes. Localised recruitment on strict merit ignoring ethnic lines can help as local people are well aware of the areas and know how to handle the situation. But there is certainly a need for complete supervision for which the apex committee can be expanded and could include the city mayor’s input as well

Institutions like Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), which had been damaged due to political interference, could be reformed too.

The experiment of hiring ex-servicemen in the past was not be successful and according to a former IGP, the retired people even from the armed forces do not have the energy level required in combating criminals and terrorists in a city like Karachi.

Therefore, it would be better to have fresh recruitment, while some ex-officers can be used for their training or consultative purposes if, at all, there is a need.

Karachi has three major problems – political, civic and administrative which includes its police and local administration. Due to deep-rooted political problems which have now turned into a serious ethnic issue, there is no easy solution to the other two and as a result Karachi has turn into world's biggest ‘katchi abadi’.

Unfortunately, there is no political will to give Karachi the metropolitan status with a metropolitan police like New York and London or even a police commissioner as powerful as in Mumbai. It was also because of biased approach that the successive regimes, whether civilian or military, had failed in addressing the issue, thus further aggravating the situation.

In the past several commissions and reports on Karachi have called for local police system, powerful local government and a powerful mayor.

Police need a powerful IGP for which a consensus is needed between the federal and Sindh governments. But once an IG is appointed, he should be empowered to transfers/ postings and should have a strong say in the promotion, at least, to the level of DIG or even additional IGP.

Similarly, the Public Safety Commission must be comprising people from different walks of life, who do not have any conflict of interest.

There is no doubt that police had not only been politicised during the last three decades but also become more loyal to the regime rather than the state. Much was expected from the PPP-led Sindh government when the party won the election in 1988 and again in 1993 and 2008, that it would reform the police and make it more people friendly.

Police and security agencies were used against the PPP, first by the Zia regime and later under late Jam Sadiq Ali, but they too used police against their opponents and found the answer in making the force more politicised.

Therefore, the entire police force was politicised in a very systematic way and used against the rivals. In the process, it became a very corrupt institution.

Firstly, the military regime under Zia used the police force against the PPP workers and they had clearly instructions to involve them in the Al-Zulfiqar case. Later from 1990 to 1992, late chief minister Jam Sadiq Ali repeated the exercise.

Unfortunately, no efforts were made to reform the police during the 1992 army operation. Instead the target was to pick the MQM’s alleged militants and forced them to join rival factions. At times, this policy brought serious differences between the two premier intelligence agencies – ISI and MI.

In 1992, the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif send a retired Lt-Gen, Shafiq-ur-Rehman to probe against police over the complaints of businessmen, women and others regarding extortion and harassment. Jam was the CM, Irfanullah Marwat adviser on home and DIG Samiullah Marwat. The trio has been accused by the PPP, in the opposition at that time, of creating a reign of terror in the city.

The Shafiq report confirmed most of the allegations after meeting the victims and questioning the officers concerned. It also recommended measures to depoliticise the police and punish the responsible. Most of these recommendations were brush under the carpet but DIG Marwat paid the price and lost his job. He was also sent to jail.

Under Benazir Bhutto's second government from 1993 to 1996, police was again tasked with targeting criminals and terrorists, but as it had replaced the army, which was withdrawn, the suspected MQM militants remained its focus. Though BB gave a freehand to Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar and the police chief, Dr Shoaib Suddle, they continued zooming in on the MQM, and many of its militants were killed extra judicially. This operation was stopped when even BB's own brother Mir Murtaza Bhutto was killed in an encounter.

BB could have reform the police in the presence of Suddle and his team but, at the end, some 16 police officers and constables faced imprisonment and trial in Murtaza's murder.

In the initial years of Gen Pervez Musharraf, police were used against political opponent but more in Punjab but, at the same time, he introduced Police Order, 2002 – considered as one of the best till this date. However, some important clauses were removed from the original order due to the pressure from certain political and non-political quarters.

If we can have a special force for China Pakistan Economic Corridor in view of its economic importance for the country, why not give a special status to Pakistan's economic hub and make a Karachi Metropolitan Police. If our enemies, whether internal or external, can conspire to sabotage Pakistan's game changer, it can also harm the country's commercial hub.

Unlike in the past operations, this operation, by and large, remained above political biased and this is the right time to bring major reforms in police instead of just increasing its strength.

Police can be reformed, if we really want to reform it, and can be depoliticised, if we really want to depoliticise it.

The writer is a senior columnist and analyst of Geo, The News and Jang.