Killing
exposes police inefficiency
Source: Dawn, the
internet edition … Mar 23. 2001 |
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KARACHI, March
22: The killing of two children of an additional district and
sessions court judge has sent a shockwave in the country, in
general, and Karachi, in particular. More so when the killers
are not thieves, dacoits or terrorist elements, but the
members of the very "capable and efficient" police
force.
Although the killings were not intentional, their lack of
judgment and extreme carelessness has exposed the efficiency
of the police department. In the US and other western
countries, the police never open fire in a hostage situation
or in public. One wonders if our police department ever use
their common sense, if any.
According to the bereaved parents, some dacoits entered the
judge's house in PECHS at around 4.30am. At the same time
someone informed the police about the presence of dacoits in
the house. They reached the premises, but did not enter it.
Meanwhile, the dacoits tried to escape by riding in the
judge's car. They used the family as a human shield by making
the judge, her husband and her two children (two-and-a-half
and five years old) to sit in the front seat. As the car moved
out of the gates, the police opened indiscriminate fire on the
car, without even caring to look at the occupants.
They lent a deaf ear when their ten-year-old daughter ran out
of the house screaming not to fire on the car. A bullet
pierced through the judge's arm and hit both her children. The
judge's husband, who was driving the car, drove it swiftly.
The dacoits stopped the car and two of them escaped. When the
parents took their children to the hospital they were
pronounced dead.
Instead of taking action against the policemen, the city
police chief tried to cover up the matter by saying that the
policemen fired in "self-defence". Self-defence
against whom? According to the judge's husband, the dacoits
did not fire at the policemen from the car, then why did the
police open indiscriminate fire?
Were they blind or was it only to kill the dacoits and gain
prizes and promotion, irrespective of who gets killed? Many
people suggested that if the police would have burst the tyres
of the car the matter would have ended there and then. But to
think of such tactics one needs to be educated and use their
sense to deal with such situations.
I would like to refer a similar incident which would show how
our police apply their mind when confronted with a danger.
Some time ago, sounds of gunfire and shouting woke up this
scribe. It was 7.30 in the morning and the sound seemed like
coming from outside the house. The firing continued for four
to five minutes.
When it was all over, I went out came outside to inquire what
had happened. I came to know that the police had been chasing
a group of dacoits from Baloch Colony. There were four of
them. Two of them were killed on the spot while the remaining
two had escaped. My driver was standing outside the house when
the incident had occurred. He had a close encounter with
death, as he got caught in the firing. He then told me his
eye-witness account.
"I was cleaning the cars when I saw two men with guns in
their hands running towards my direction. A police mobile was
chasing them and some policemen opened indiscriminate fire on
them without even thinking that other people were standing
nearby. The dacoits raised their hands to surrender, but even
then the police didn't stop firing. They kept on firing and
shouting like maniacs. One bullet just went past me. I did not
move as I knew the police would mistakenly fire at me. One
bullet hit the car and three on the wall. They shot from point
blank range, but even then they missed their target. They were
firing like madmen. I was lucky to have survived, but I would
have been killed due to the police' stupidity."
There can be many causes of the police' inefficiency, but one
thing which has emerged from both these incidents is that the
police are not trained to face situations like this. They are
absolutely devoid of thinking and sense of judgment. They
would continue to commit such senseless mistakes unless they
are properly trained and educated. And the government must
make sure it does that, as soon as possible. |
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