September 23, 1999
Custodial Killings
By Ghullam Asghar Khan
THE wave of unbridled custodial killings is gaining momentum with every passing day. The killing spree is on despite severe condemnation by human right outfits, the media and the leaders of public opinion.
The situation, in fact, has worsened. Murders are committed by the very agency which is supposed to protect the life and property of the people. If the saviours become the "angels of death", to whom should the people look for protection?
These killings naturally raise the question as to what is wrong with the "rule of law" in our country. When the country's constitution guarantees the "rule of law", why this naked rebellion against a constitutional provision? The violation calls for appropriate punishments. Since no punishment has been awarded to the violators, custodial killings seem to have become a part and parcel of our system.
In a situation like this where the rulers have turned a deaf ear to such complaints, it is the Judiciary which can restore the confidence of the people. Unless and until the Judiciary puts its foot down to give exemplary punishments to the violators of the Constitution, the situation is not going to improve. Justice is not just for the innocent, the accused, too, has an equal right to seek justice from a court of law. And it is not the police, but the court which is to decide whether a man is guilty or not.
The duty of the police is to register a case, investigate it honestly and submit its findings to the court to take a decision. Through custodial killings, the police force has blatantly assumed the role of the court by deciding the fate of a man yet to be found guilty by a court.
The investigation of crime is a complex process, and needs a lot of common sense, hard work and knowledge of law. Since Independence, these qualities of a good police officer have been lost because the police, for all practical purposes, has been converted into a political force. The police officers give undue favours to politicians and receive, in return, patronage from them. The resultant sense of security has given way to an inefficient force and deterioration in the law and order situation. Over the years, this stagnation has been allowed to grow and the police has become unable to meet the challenges of increasing crime.
The police force often resorts to extra-judicial killings to cover up their failures and to satisfy the government and the public by giving them a false sense of relief. The cold-blooded murder of two innocent men recently in Sargodha on the assumption that one of them was Riaz Basra, is one such example. The feeling of euphoria evaporated when the incident turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The adventurers who were out to claim rewards for Basra's killing vanished into thin air.
Extra-judicial killings is, in fact, an admission on the part of the police that they are unable to control crime while working within the legal provisions at their disposal which give them enough legal powers, but not a license to kill. This killing spree has become infectious with the passage of time, spreading from one district to the other as if there is a competition going on. Every such shootout is followed by a routine judicial enquiry, generally absolving the police officers involved because of the one-sided evidence brought forward by those who are themselves involved. The system of judicial enquiries has failed to yield positive results and needs to be re-examined by the Judiciary at a higher level.
Another factor in this regard that often leads to an extra-judicial killing is the manner in which an FIR is generally recorded at police stations, if they get recorded at all, that is. Under the rules, the procedure is very simple, but in practice it is a highly frustrating experience for the common man. The policemen on duty often make people feel as if they themselves are the culprits. What follows is a macabre situation and the aggrieved repents the day he lodged a complaint with the police.
Instead of the police being of any help to him, they become an eternal torture for the complainant. This happens because their is no effective accountability at the level of police stations, despite claims to the contrary by the department. Instead of improving the working in the right direction and disposing of the cases according to the laid-down procedure, the police resort to shortcut measures.
Extra-judicial killing is one of them. In every such killing, the accused is either said to be trying to escape while in police custody, or the police party comes under an imaginary attack by his alleged accomplices. And it is interesting to note that in almost all cases of extra-judicial killings, the police party comes out without a scratch!
The public outcry against these murders has not yielded any positive results. It has created a feeling of insecurity among the masses who feel that the police can kill anybody, anywhere, anytime. Lack of action on the part of the administration has created an impression that, may be, the government itself is patronizing the high-handedness of the police force.
The attention of the Judiciary has time and again been drawn to this sorry state of affairs, and the leaders of public opinion have demanded suo muto action by the "strongest pillar" of the state against these illegal acts. The recent resolution of the Lahore High Court Bar, forming a committee to pursue the matter with the chief justice, is a step in the right direction. The Judiciary should rise to the occasion to do justice and give relief to the people who are living under constant fear of police excesses.
At present, the image of the police is that of an "enemy of the people". It needs to be transformed into that of a saviour. But within the present set-up of things there seems to be a remote possibility of achieving such a goal. With the passage of time, extra-judicial killings have become a parallel judicial system with the police dispensing 'justice' on the spot. And those involved in these acts of barbarism are showered with rewards which they do not deserve. This has discouraged honest and hardworking officers and men who are losing interest in their jobs, and, mind you, they are in the majority.
Demoralizing the majority of the force will create problems for the government in the long run. The present rulers should look into the past when Ghulam Haider Wain's government was toppled by the very adventures who were showered with undue favours and, strangely enough, are still flourishing, perhaps waiting for another opportunity.
After the attack on the Supreme Court of Pakistan building, an impression has been created deliberately that the Judiciary has resigned itself to the present fate. This is not true. This strong pillar is still standing on a very firm footing and can meet challenges most effectively.
The country's chief executive is, perhaps, too busy to look into this notorious system of "parallel police justice". Political issues should be settled politically and a democratic government should not take undemocratic measures by making the police department a part of state terrorism, an impression which is emerging in the minds of the people.
Montesquieu, in his famous 17th century work The Spirit of Law, has advocated the separation of Judiciary, Administration and Legisla-tion to give justice to the people. Concentration of power in one hand is the ultimate destruction of human liberty, he maintains. The makers of the American Constitution were influenced by this theory of Montesquieu when they guaranteed the "Rule of Law" in the American constitution. We also have the same "Rule of Law" in our constitution, and its implementation in letter and in spirit must be ensured. Easier said than done, I guess!
© The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 1999