SOMETIMES it seems that our police department is only working for the protection of the elite. On the other hand, the ordinary citizen suffers from the alarming increase in crime rate.

Living in Islamabad helps greatly in understanding this assertion. A city where a large proportion of the elite lives has always something to show that scorns and ridicules the ordinary citizen.

Speeding motorcades of parliamentarians, businessmen and high-ranking government officials try to mock the common man at the traffic signal waiting for the motorcade to leave. This disparity has already given birth to disgust and anger among the people against the elite. Although police are making a way forward, but the progress is either too slow or just an eyewash for the public.

The new initiative of citizen-police stations is also not receiving any appreciation from the people. It is time the authorities concerned realised that the police are a service for the common man and not for the elite and powerful.

MADIHA NADEEM Islamabad