LAHORE, July 25: The abortive rescue operation in the Sialkot jail hostage drama raises questions about police competence to deal with such cases.

The incident also brings into focus a mismanaged prison system plagued by crimes like drug trade, sexual harassment, unprofessional attitude of jail authorities and lawlessness — where gangs of hardened criminals intimidate other prisoners.

This is not the first time that a hostage episode has ended in loss of innocent lives. Past police record shows that they would launch such operations without thinking about the safety of hostages.

Seasoned police officers say that the Punjab police lack both the training and equipment to tackle such situations. They do not have an adequate telecommunication system which is considered to be very helpful in fighting crimes like this, nor do they have sufficient training.

One of the officers recalled a similar hostage drama in Lahore some years ago in which three police officers and as many members of a family were injured critically.

It took place in Millat Park. A PO had held a family hostage. The police officers on the spot were more than impatient to break into the house.

“Such cases need skill to unnerve the captor(s) and gain maximum time to find out more and more ways to get the victims released safely.”

The officer says the police here do not try to break the criminal at the psychological level and opt for action in haste.

In both the cases, the one that took place some years ago in Millat Park and the Sialkot jail tragedy, the officer said law-enforcement agents broke down instead of the criminals.

The police haphazardly stormed the Millat Park house and got three of their officers and as many hostages injured.

Same was the case in Sialkot where the police and Elite Force commandos did not try to seek time for exploring other ways to retrieve the victims safely. However, the police command at the scene of crime justified their action by saying that they did not have any other option as the captors had started killing the people in their custody.

It is not understandable as to why the authorities at the scene could not prolong the negotiations with captors. The acting IGP for Punjab prisons and a district and sessions judge negotiated with the captors for about three hours and came back saying that they had not been able to make any headway.

This was the time to find out some other way, but the police did not bother to explore other ways and went for action straightaway.

Questions are yet to be answered as to how the criminals knew that the judges were due to make the inspection. Obviously, they had some information that enabled them to plan the crime. Nobody but the jail authorities could have passed such information.

“These things will be determined in an inquiry which has already been initiated,” the acting IGP (prisons) Capt Sarfraz Mufti (retired) told Dawn.