Malik M Ashraf
THE country-wide unprecedented outrage over the incident of rape of a woman stranded on Lahore-Sialkot Motorway in the wee hours of 9 September and the calls for public hanging of the culprits indicate the depth of anguish, hurt and shock that the people of Pakistan feel over it. Such incidents are a stigma on the face of the society and the state in regards to their failure in creating an environment which ensures protection of dignity and honour of a citizen, more so the modesty of a female.Unfortunately it is not the first incident of its kind. The newspapers and other media outlets regularly report incidents of rape and gang rape not only of adult women but also children as young as five years old. The burgeoning increase in the incidents of rape and molestation of females are also symptomatic of the degree of mental perversion, attributable to pornographic material available on myriad of websites on the internet and the onslaught of the western culture to a great extent as well as our social environment and the judicial system.
While the social attitudes and taboos against women can be changed through education the crimes against them like rape can only be eliminated when there is a rule of law in the country and the justice system ensures certainty of punishment to the perpetrators of such crimes. Unfortunately both these ingredients are missing. Our life cycle of the criminal justice process comprising police, investigation, prosecution, courts and prison need drastic reforms to be able to act as strong deterrent against commitment of crimes. It is rightly said that the most effective deterrent is certainty of punishment and not its severity. I remember that in the early days of Zia’s Martial Law three people accused of kidnapping a child ‘Puppu’ for ransom and his murder were hanged publicly in Lahore. I was among the crowd of thousands of people who witnessed this incident outside the old jail on Ferozpur Road where temporary gallows were erected. As they were executed there was pin-drop silence and sense of shock over that unprecedented enactment of the punishment. But it never deterred would be criminals to commit such crimes because the system lacked the element of certainty of punishment.
The buck starts with Police. It is said there are good and bad people in every society and within the public organizations but this perhaps does not apply to our police. The impression about them is that they are criminals in uniform who abet all kinds of crimes due to the permeating corruption. People are actually afraid to go to a police station to report a crime.
It is a well known secret that police stations have and any police officer aspiring to be appointed as SHO has to give a fixed monthly amount to the city police chief. The existence of this culture of collective corruption in Police is amply corroborated by the son of former PSP officer Dil Jan Khan Marwat who in his book ‘Father and I ‘recalls an incident when his father was posted as SP Sialkot in these words “Soon after assuming charge his Personal Assistant came to his office and in a very meaningful way asked my father ‘Sir the Inspectors want to know what the monthly policy would be’. My father did not get the import of the query and just brushed it aside. A few days later the PA again alluded to the same matter, only this time Babaji got angry and asked his PA to be more explicit and tell my father what he exactly wanted to say. The PA then sheepishly said ‘Sir I am referring to the monthly money that comes from the police stations, the Inspectors want to know about your desired mode of receiving the money”
The extent of corruption and moral degradation of CCPO Lahore and the IG as revealed in reports of agencies being bandied on the media is a ranting testimony of this culture of total rot in the police department. One of batch-mates from the Police group while talking to me informally had told me that most of the police officers make so much money during first five years that they can afford to be honest in the latter years of their service stint. One can ask the people who ever have had the bad luck of going to a police station how things move in those crime dens. It is a misfortune of the nation that those who have been running the affairs of the state after partition instead of changing the archaic colonial system of governance, worked for strengthening it to protect their vested interests and entrenchment of the culture of entitlement and graft. Police has been extensively used for settling scores with political opponents by the incumbent governments. Posting and transfers of district police officers and provincial IGs are made on the recommendations of the MNAs and the ruling elite. Under such circumstances how can the society expect any good from police?
Most of the criminals get away even with heinous crimes due to faulty and distorted investigations by the police and the corruption that unfortunately also affects the merits of the case during prosecution, adjudication by courts particularly lower courts. Even if a criminal is awarded punishment he can avoid the rigors of incarceration by bribing the jail authorities. Momentary outrage and calls for exemplary punishment are not the right remedies. We need wholesome reforms in the entire judicial and policing system. This can be done through collective efforts of all the political forces. People are looking up to Imran Khan to fulfil his promise of reforming the police and converting Pakistan into ‘ Reyasate Medina’ The state needs to adopt a pro-active role rather than being resigned to reactive responses.
— The writer is freelance columnist based in Islamabad.
