Crackdown on corrupt cops on the cards

Islamabad: A comprehensive crackdown against corruption in police will be initiated soon after a huge reshuffle in different levels in the department, sources disclosed to ‘The News’.

Inspector General of Police Islamabad when contacted confirmed the report regarding the crackdown against the corrupt police officials.

Unfortunately, the reshuffling and new appointments could not accomplish the desired results and requirements of the police chief and till the time, the situation is the same as what was going before. But the police premier has made up a stratagem to execute his plan to sweep corruption from the police station.

Having done away with the ceremonies and exchange of pleasantries, the new Inspector-General of Islamabad Police, Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman has set himself an almost impossible task to achieve, side by side with improving policing in the federal capital, IG Qazi is ambitious to turn the Islamabad Police into a ‘corruption free’ institution.

It has been learnt that the new IGP Islamabad has already issued directions for pin-pointing the officials with stained, or better said, ‘smeared’ service records in Islamabad Police and has made his intentions clear to get rid of such elements.

It was learnt that IGP has the nod from the Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad to launch this ‘clean-up operation’ within the Islamabad Police. It would neither an easy task nor a pleasant one and he is in full realization of the fact.

There are many glaring facts that clearly indicate the kind of corruption rampaging in Islamabad Police but the ‘Bosses’, both in the police department as well as those sitting in the ministry or even ‘higher up’, have always cast a blind eye to this matter.

Mainly they do not want to open a ‘Pandora Box’ which would become too difficult to deal with or too hot to hold on to, but this time IGP seems to make a resolve and has decided to take a plunge, headlong, into this mess of corruption to clean it up.

It is hardly a secret that a large number of officials in Islamabad Police, all ranks, are either themselves involved in criminal acts or have been patronizing criminals. Be those the drug barons or lowly placed ‘drug pushers’, the ‘car lifting gangs’ the ‘qabza mafias’, and many other gangs involved in organized crimes.

There are others who are involved in departmental corruption, including abuse of official powers, misuse of funds and abuse of authority. The people indicate that a sub-inspector is running the entire system of inter and external transfers and posting. “The mighty sub-inspector, enjoying his powers ‘conferred’ by the bosses, transfer the traffic personnel from one division to the other division if he refuses to fulfil his demands.

This would, indeed, be a good case for the new IGP Islamabad to start with if he actually means to make Islamabad Police a ‘corruption free’ institution.

There is yet another massive case of corruption brewing just under the surface in the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP). Huge amounts of money, collected by the ITP through traffic violation fines, runs into hundreds of millions every year.

Under the laid down rules, 50 per cent of the fine collected was to go to the government kitty, while out of the rest of 50 per cent, 25 per cent was supposed to spent on infrastructure/facilities of ITP and 25 per cent was supposed to be distributed among the staff on duty.

Evidently, the 50 per cent fine retained by the ITP for its infrastructure or facilities development and for the staff has not been utilised appropriately. This makes yet another fit case for investigation for the new IGP of Islamabad.

In addition to these two major issues needing instant attention, the IGP will continue to look into the records or those officials and officers who do not enjoy a reputation fit for a member of the Islamabad Police force.