ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: Terming the deployment of policemen in plain clothes to quell demonstrations an illegal practice, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Tuesday wondered who would be blamed in case of serious mishap.

The observation was made by the chief justice on a set of guidelines proposed by senior advocate Khalid Anwar to the court hearing the complaint on a suo motu notice against the use of force by law-enforcement agencies on Sept 29 against lawyers, journalists and other civil society representatives protesting outside the Supreme Court building and the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Over 70 lawyers, journalists and other people were injured when police use brute force against them.

Appearing as an amicus curae (friend of the court), Mr Anwar requested the Supreme Court to lay down guidelines for dealing with such situations.

He suggested that the deployment of policemen in plain clothes should be banned and that police or other law-enforcement personnel should be in uniform, with their name or badge on it so that they could be identified in case of any illegal or unlawful action.

The Supreme Court had on Oct 1 ordered the suspension of Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, Inspector General of Police Moravet Ali Shah and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Naeem Khan after holding them responsible for using force against lawyers, journalists and other civil society representatives. They were protesting against President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election and scrutiny of his nomination papers by the Election Commission.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court directed the SSP, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and medical superintendent of the Federal Government Services Hospital, commonly known as Polyclinic Hospital, to submit by Oct 31 a complete record of medical certificates issued about injured journalists.

The suspended IG informed the court that the Police Order 2002 had not yet been enforced. The court observed that the law should also be implemented in the capital.

The proposed guidelines suggest special training for police personnel to deal with riots, protests, rallies and demonstrations and manage large public events. Besides, a command system headed by an officer of at least of the rank of DIG should also be developed for the police force.

All operation plans and orders relating to an event should be documented for future review by courts, if needed.

The guidelines also suggest that a police complaints authority should be established and made functional to ensure that it fulfilled the role of accountability as enshrined in the Police Order 2002.

“Police have a strong in-built bias against protesters raising voice against policies of the government. Police officers also expressly or tacitly or by way of acquiescence are assured that they would be rewarded for indulging in unlawful and illegal actions like use of force with an implied assurance about immunity from prosecution. This encourages police to use unlawful and illegal measures against protesters.” The guidelines also say that police should be insulated from the government pressure and intervention.

“There should also be an absolute prohibition on the use of unlawful force or any other measures by police that could result in the death or injury of any of the protesters.”

About the Pakistan Television, the guidelines said, the state-controlled TV should not act as an advertising agency of the ruling party; rather it should promote and present a neutral and factually objective account of a public event.

He requested the court to direct the government to publish on a monthly basis in leading newspapers a summary of the amount it was spending on publicity to discourage the favour being extended to certain channels and newspapers and promote accountability.

About journalists, Mr Anwar said they had the right to be present at and report from a scene of crime or event and, therefore, it should be made mandatory that if a journalist was injured or any of his equipment/camera damaged or broken, an FIR should be registered against those responsible.

He said that all TV channels should be allowed to cover the proceedings closely and from a vantage point.