THE tragedy near Sahiwal on Jan 19 proves beyond a shadow of doubt that our government cannot work efficiently beyond a certain population size and scale.

The bureaucracy becomes inefficient, the judiciary is over extended while the police become largely answerable only to themselves.

When a country arrives at this state of affairs, good governance is relegated into the background and its citizens are forced to live in the shadows of the Wild West. Sadly it seems that things have spun out of control in Pakistan.

The minions of the state have declared the victims of police brutality and violence as terrorists. The spontaneous reaction of the people to the Sahiwal killings shows the state is oppressive and the police have become a mafia trampling the law and spreading disorder. A centralised system will always make mistakes of this sort, suffering a high ratio of false positives.

The violent death of Murtaza Bhutto in a similar police encounter in September 1996 should have set alarm bells ringing. The state should have brought reforms in the system, however, it did nothing.

Eighteen years later in June 2014, the people — with private TV news channels in full bloom — witnessed the Lahore Model Town massacre by the police. In 2019, the police have grown bolder and staged an encounter in broad daylight killing a family and a taxi driver.

Pakistan needs to modernise quickly, for the world is on the threshold of the third decade of the 21st century.

In today’s modern state, governance has to be local, the judiciary has to be local and the police definitely have to be local if its economy is to thrive.

Faisal Qamar
Morrisville, North Carolina, USA

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THE murder of four people at the hands of the Punjab police personnel of the Counter Terrorism Department heading towards Burewala from Lahore to attend a wedding speaks volumes about our police.

Their behaviour towards citizens is reflected in a social media message going around: Pakistan’s police checkposts are the only ones in the world where citizens cower and fear for their lives instead of feeling safe.

Rather than accepting blame for the Sahiwal tragedy, the Punjab government seems to be making a deliberate attempt to distort the facts.

The CTD has so far changed its version of what transpired no less than four times in 24 hours. It seems to be making a deliberate attempt to distort the facts.

Instead of forming a Joint Investigation Team, the government should form a judicial commission comprising high court judges to probe the ghastly incident and submit its findings within a fortnight.

Prime Minister Imran Khan should take this as a test case for his government which has promised change and good governance.

Hasan Afzaal
Karachi

(3)

THE greatest fallout of the war on terror is bestowing unbridled powers upon the police to kill anyone suspected of terrorism without judicial intervention. Incidents of law enforcers taking a human life have become common in Pakistan.

The passage of draconian laws and the establishment of military courts are subjugation of civilian institutions. We are rapidly becoming an authoritarian state with little respect for fundamental rights. The Sahiwal tragedy is a case in point.

I cannot imagine why the police had to kill a family going to a wedding with small children. Where is the sanctity of article 10A and other laws relating to basic rights and the right to life?

The government has to ensure that those responsible are dealt with according to the law and no such incident occurs in future. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has been harping about police reforms and promised to change the police culture. Prime Minister Imran Khan should honour his words.

Tayyab Butt
Sialkot

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2019