– File photo by APP

Pakistani policemen are so notorious for their freeloading habits that the alternative online Urban Dictionary now features an exclusive entry for ‘tulla’, which is defined as “Pakistani slang for a cop”. The rest of the definition is less than flattering and is worth a cue for policemen to get their act together if they want the citizens, especially the youth, to take their authority seriously.

Last week, a report submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had reinforced their image as free-riders and quite literally. On February 6, it was disclosed that at least 11 vehicles confiscated/recovered by the police in 2011 had been lent out illegally on the basis of ‘Superdari’ – temporary custody arrangements – to people who were not their real owners.

The court was informed that of the 11 vehicles, three were being used by officers of the rank of police inspectors while an undetermined number was in the use of other policemen
ranging from the ranks of the deputy superintendent to moharrars (clerks).

Meanwhile, rumours abound of at least 100 confiscated vehicles being used by policemen or gifted to influential in Islamabad without any paperwork or legal process, but there is no way to ascertain them.

Back in 2009, the apex court had directed the chief secretaries of the four provinces to withdraw all vehicles being used by law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies under Superdari within two weeks, and since then the practice has been considered illegal.

Investigations by Dawn reveal that the use of vehicles on temporary custody arrangements though is still commonplace across all ranks of the police. A senior police officer said: “Policemen especially the lower staff stationed at police stations and other wings use confiscated vehicles for personal and official business, including patrolling.”

Another police officer on the request of anonymity said the policemen were reluctant to hand over recovered/confiscated vehicles to their actual owners after disposal of the cases. “Often they raise an objection or seek a clear directive from the authorities to hand over the vehicles,” he said. “This is simply a money-making gimmick: the police want bribes from the original owners, and when they refuse to cooperate the vehicle goes ‘missing’ from the premises of the police station the very next day.”

Many times after the ‘official’ use, these cars are left in a state of disrepair, as he revealed: “In some instances, car accessories have been stolen or the cars completely broken down.”

And the more expensive and fancy the vehicle, the longer the delays in handing over to the original owners: “A large number of expensive vehicles are kept in their custody on the pretext that the numbers of the cars have been tampered with and the owners cannot be traced down. Such vehicles are passed on for use to high-ranking officers or influential people,” a police officer claimed.

One such case has been of a Range Rover that had been confiscated by the Kohsar police in 2002 and given illegally under ‘Superdari’ to Faisal Sakhi Butt, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Islamabad, in 2011.

The vehicle was one of two Range Rovers that were being imported from the US to China by a Chinese national, Mr Wang Bo in 2002. Mr Bo, who runs the Chinese Club in Sector F-6/1, had used his connections in the bureaucracy to disembark the two vehicles in transit at the Karachi Port and later transported them to Islamabad.

For some time, the vehicles were hidden at an unidentified spot near Aabpara and later one of them was brought to the Chinese Club and parked inside. News had spread fast and the Kohsar police raided the club and seized it. Given that the import documents showed that the customs duty had not been paid, the vehicle was not registered and that further documentation was incomplete, the Kohsar police had rightly impounded it under section 550 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and an FIR was registered as well.

From 2002 to 2011, the vehicle stayed within the limits of the station despite different SHOs of Kohsar being approached by bigwigs for its use. It was only in 2011 when Inspector Tanoli assumed charge as the station house officer Kohsar that he handed the Range Rover to Mr Butt, who it is claimed is his benefactor and the reason he received such a high-profile appointment in the first place.

Likewise, the Margalla police used an impounded car – a Honda City – to go to Mandi Bahauddin on May 31, 2011. The vehicle had been impounded under section 550 of the CrPc but the actual owner had managed to approach a court of law that ordered the handing back of the car on Superdari. However, instead of following the court instruction, the police did not give the custody of the vehicle to its rightful owner and kept it for official use.

This malpractice came to light when the investigator for the murder case of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad appeared before the judicial commission and claimed that he had used a rented car from a rent-a-car showroom. However, he was unable to produce the requisite slips and failed to satisfy the commission. The police sought more time and eventually produced the actual owner of the vehicle in the judicial commission to satisfy it. When the investigator was probed over his dallying, he replied that given he had used the impounded vehicle, his disclosure would have landed him in trouble.

A similar case has been that of a sub-inspector of capital police posted in Aabpara police station who took away a case property, a Honda City. The car was impounded by Aabpara police some two years back when a couple had suffocated to death in it while it was still parked inside a house garage.

For now, the IHC has ordered various inquiries and so has the assistant inspector general to probe the involvement of police in such practices; however, given that the strongly worded statement that had come about in 2009, one wonders if the orders of the IHC will hold sway or be forgotten like that of the Supreme Court of Pakistan with a replay in a couple of years.