Staff Reporter
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Monday said that December 16 has some lessons for the state as it reminds the country of two tragedies – the fall of Dhaka and the Army Public School (APS) massacre.
Addressing to the National Police Academy in Islamabad the chief justice said that it is responsibility of states for giving protection to its citiz-
ens.
“The fall of Dhaka and the APS carnage, both these tragic incidents have some lessons for us,” said the CJP.
He said that another lesson from the APS massacre was that “when we get together on one agenda we can achieve anything”. The CJP urged that the need for the country to once again look for the areas that unite us and work on those areas.
While talking about lessons from the fall of Dhaka, the CJP noted, “If the state starts asserting itself too much, then people break away from the social contract”.
The top judge told the police officers that this is what they have to teach under-training officers at the academy. He said that the incidents that compelled the state to introduce major changes in its policy.
“Time has come to rethink the approach of the police. Police should be perceived as a protector. You have to teach this to under-training officers. This change is important to keep the social contract alive,” said Justice Khosa.
The CJP highlighted that APS tragedy shook the whole country and led the nation to look into the approaches that were being used by the state.
“That [APS massacre] was the incident we realised enough is enough,” said CJP Khosa, adding that the massacre also led to the formulation of National Action Plan against terrorism.
The CJP said another lesson was that when the country gets together on a single agenda then it can achieve anything.
