KARACHI, Aug 23: A police constable was visibly upset when his senior official turned down his request for leave to attend a book launch in a Punjab town organized by the proscribed Jaish-i-Muhammad organization a few months ago. This was, however, a surprising fact for this reporter that elements supporting extremist organisations existed within the law-enforcement agencies without having to conceal their affiliations.

The incident also reminded one of the May 7, 2004 suicide bombing that took place during Friday prayers in the Hyderi mosque on the premises of Sindh Madressah. The bomber was a policeman as it was later established from the belt buckle found at the scene of the blast that killed dozens of innocent people.

In the absence of a proper mechanism to screen out extremist elements at the time of recruitment or at a later stage in the police force, the country’s police in general and the Sindh police in particular may be at risk from within.

Sources told Dawn that senior police officers did not try to find out if their subordinates harboured extremist views.

A senior officer in the police department, seeking anonymity, said that people having affiliation with extremist outfits, attending their congregations and other events over the years had become something normal in the police force.

Often policemen seek leave from work not to visit their parents or children back home in Punjab, in the interior of Sindh or elsewhere, but to attend the annual congregation of Jaish-i-Muhammad or some other such outfit, the officer said.

Ideally, policemen should perform their duties keeping themselves above the consideration of religion or sect, which should become insignificant issues when it comes to the enforcement of law and dispensation of justice at the initial stage, observed a senior police officer.

So far the police department has not bothered to carry out an exercise within the rank and file of the police force to identify personnel that could have links with extremist organisations. Disciplinary action such as a warning could at least help arrest the situation, another senior officer said.

“If the black sheep involved in criminal activities are in the police force who play a pivotal role in disgracing the force, then it was quite probable that elements having extremists tendencies or links with proscribed outfits are also in the force,” the officer remarked.

“There are 30,000 personnel in the police force. Their scrutiny is not an easy task,” said Capital City Police Officer Waseem Ahmed. “However, the possibility of such a threat from within cannot be ruled out,” the CCPO admitted, adding that the police were conscious of the issue.

He said a process of vetting did take place during the security duty of VVIP duties, and special branch personnel verified the credentials of the policemen sent for such duties, the city police chief said.

But if the 2004 Hyderi mosque bomber, constable Akbar Niazi, as he was later identified, had been discovered at a proper stage, it would have saved the lives of the dozens of innocent people. He was stated to be brainwashed by a local prayer leader, who had prepared him to carry out the heinous crime. The constable was not driven to the crime by poverty as he belonged to an economically stable family.

Meanwhile, following the suicide bombing carried out in the Pakistan Ordnance Factory, Wah Cantonment, an emergency meeting of the relevant officers was called by the CCPO in his office. During the meeting, co-chaired by the DIG CID, the officers were sensitized on the emerging situation across the country and passed on a standard operations procedure.

The officers in turn were supposed to sensitize the lower ranking personnel at the police station level.