These days the capital police are busy trying to create a “top quality working environment”. As a handout of a meeting held on April 3 reveals, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan has directed all station house officers and supervisory officers to repair and construct boundary walls, and provide quality mess and recreational facilities to employees within 15 days.

Furthermore, the handout states that the IGP and the AIG (operations) Tahir Alam Khan will be paying surprise visits to police stations and if any shortages are found then the relevant staff would face “strict” disciplinary action.

However, it is most ironic and sad that the IGP is laying so much stress on improving the conditions in which policemen work and not the manner in which they conduct business.

As investigations into two recent cases by Dawn reveal, such superficial measures will in no way help the police redeem their image - corruption and nepotism afflict all ranks and need to be dealt with urgently.

The first case is of Zaraq Khan who has lodged a complaint with the Aabpara police that an official who was investigating the case of his brother’s disappearance demanded Rs30,000 through his agent and received part-payment of it.Zaraq Khan’s brother Faiz Ali Akbar, a local officer of the German embassy, disappeared on March 22 and his body was found on March 28 in Rawal Dam. This case was highly publicised in the local media as well.

According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn, Zaraq Khan first filed an FIR on March 23 about his brother’s disappearance and the same day Mian Imran was appointed as the investigating officer (IO). Mr Khan met Mian Imran on March 24, and during this meeting he alleges that the IO assured him that he will give him good news and asked him to pay Mushtaq (his agent) Rs30,000.

Mr Khan conceded in his FIR that he paid Rs10,000 and the very next day he was told that his brother’s motorcycle had been found. The same evening, he was also informed by the IO that they had shortlisted some suspects.

On March 26, the IO rounded up three suspects - a girl, her father and brother - who admitted that they had caught Faiz in front of their house talking to the girl but had let him go after beating him. Two days later, Faiz’s body was found from Rawal Dam.

In his FIR, Mr Khan has explicitly nominated the IO and demanded justice and legal action against him. Following this thought the police swiftly arrested the agent, Mushtaq, recovered Rs9,000 from him and sent him on judicial remand. However, no action has been taken against the IO even though his name appears there.

In a bid to save their colleague’s skin, the police are claiming that Mushtaq and Zaraq Khan were natives of the same village and Mushtaq was extorting money from him (Zaraq Khan), and the IO has no relationship with him.

Interestingly, when Dawn contacted the complainant, Zaraq Khan, he first said he did not want to comment on the issue and denied lodging any such complaint. When probed more with reference to the FIR number and his statement recorded as part of it, he simply laughed it off.Meanwhile, in another unrelated case, one suspect got it easy because of alleged contacts within the police. On March 20, the Bhara Kahu police in a raid arrested a couple, both doctors by profession, for their alleged involvement in selling unwanted newborn babies and conducting illegal abortions.

Even though the male doctor was produced in the court of law the very next day and also sent for judicial remand, his wife was neither nominated in the FIR nor produced in the court of law with him. Rather she was produced in the court of law on March 22.

A source within the police informed this reporter that the female doctor was related to a senior officer in the capital police who did not let her name be nominated in the FIR. However, there was no way to independently verify this allegation.

Even then it’s quite obvious that the police need to take a deep look within and revamp rather than going for surface measures that will not improve the quality of the police service.