Their Crimes. Our Punishment

APRIL 2004 - Getting robbed is now a matter of routine. The papers are full of it and so common are the occurrences, that most readers simply skip the lurid details and read the sports page instead. Most people you meet have either been robbed at one point or another or know of at least one or two instances where friends or family members have been the victims. There was of course a time when such things as getting robbed was the kind of thing that happened to people in remote parts of the country and had more or less, no relationship with your common day existence. That too is no longer the case.

Over the past few years, the number of those robbed, held hostage or terrorized by gangs of raiding looters, is on the rise, never mind if the police claim that the crime graph has taken such a nosedive they fear it may never recover. It also does not matter where you live. In Lahore, if you are a resident of Krishan Nagar you are just as likely to be robbed if you were a resident of Defence. Those who conduct these robberies seem to care little for class distinctions and carry out their acts with equal commitment and devotion, never mind which side of Lahore’s canal, you may be on. In other cities too, localities are equally prone to getting burgled, irrespective of what income bracket they represent. While most families live with the trauma of the brutality and personal invasion for a long time, there are far too many cases where people have also lost their lives, defending their home and goods.

Those who are robbed by masked thieves still regard themselves as a trifle lucky compared to those who are faced by men who neither cover their faces nor feel any compulsion to keep their identity secret. This sect is clearly the more scary one because having seen them you are a liability and likely to suffer serious consequences. Although most families who are robbed offer full cooperation to their invaders, this doesn’t seem to cut much ice with the parties concerned, who apart from taking their own time in clearing out the goods hardly ever seem to be in a hurry to get away. Some prefer to spend the night in the company of their recent victims, having gagged and bound them securely first. This is essential because of the timing. In other words, while it makes sense to strike in the dead of night, it is prudent to leave when the day has dawned thereby escaping most of the useless dragnets that the police diligently throw around various towns and cities.

It also no longer matters who you are. Mehdi Hassan, ailing and paralysed having received at last some funding for his medical treatment was robbed without mercy by a gang that took whatever money they could find. It did not matter the least to them that not only was the artist frail but his name or reputation did not matter in the least. In Lahore, Zia Moheyddin’s family was held hostage for a terrifying amount of time and deprieved of expensive goods. In the process, their guests too were dealt the same hand. Before that, actor Salman Shahid and his mother, the actress Khurshid Shahid were robbed in broad daylight on an afternoon when most people would think of taking a walk in a park, not looting homes with abandon. Although Salman tried to reason with the raiding gang that he was a lost cause because actors were permanently broke, this did not impress them too much and they eventually decamped with whatever they could find plus Salman’s not so reliable car. That was retrieved following a helpful phone call from the raiding party who disclosed its current location and added that they were returning the vehicle since they were decent types. Retired judges, army personnel, lawyers, bureaucrats, business people, even highly placed police officials, all are robbed with single-minded passion. It also matters little if the robbed are serving or retired, young or old because the profession of crime obviously has high democratic standards. In that sense perhaps, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to maintain that crime is just about the most democratic institution we have and a stirring example of how successful devolution has actually been.

Repeated accusations in Pakistan that all crime is committed with the direct intervention, guidance and benevolence of the police force falls on ears that have long ago lost the capacity to listen, particularly if it is not blatant and shameless praise. The newspapers have written thousands of times about police involvement, quoted instances, cited reports, presented evidence, yet absolutely nothing has changed. If the police are that heavily committed to a life of crime, it is a miracle they show up for work at all. Police chiefs hold endless meetings and present various graphs, diligently prepared that shows crime curves going down like crazy but on the ground realities are soaring in the other direction. From time to time, people claim that the State has abandoned its most basic duty and left its subjects to those who think nothing of looting and killing or both. These exhortations have an exemplary effect on the rulers, namely no effect at all. The sight of policemen, whether on foot, or on bikes or in dilapidated vehicles, puts the fear of God in the most hardened of cases. On top of it, certain sections of this lethal force have taken to wearing black outfits and now truly resemble the armies of Lucifer. When they boldly wear slogans such as ‘No Fear’ or ‘Mujahid’ the average citizen falls on his knees and disconsolately begs the good lord for forgiveness. There are numerous stories where police involvement has been proven beyond doubt, but this too has absolutely no effect on the dire situation that all citizens face throughout the year. Some of the stories are truly apocryphal like the time a gang of gun-toting robbers ransacked a house, were caught in a crossfire of some spirited citizens, forced to surrender and were triumphantly marched to the local police station, where the citizens discovered with some embarrassment that the robbers they had in custody were in fact serving policemen of the same police station. One fears to repeat the end of that story except to say that the citizens were very sorry at the blunder they had committed.

If the police are not involved and this is just as believable as the report that penguins were spotted having a sunbath in the Sahara, then why does the entire country labour on under this delusion? The fact is – not that facts have any bearing on this entire subject that the sight of police station sends most people into convulsions. In these dens of horror, hundreds of young and old men have been tortured to death by the most primitive and cruel means. The women are duly gang raped and gang raped again till they either die or are scarred forever and lead even worse lives than they did before they fell into the hands of their saviours. No one escapes lightly from police custody. Perfectly healthy individuals taken in for ‘routine’ questioning have mysterious and almost always fatal heart attacks or die of causes that are never discovered. Far from being havens where the victims can seek succour, police stations are public morgues from where emerging with honour is the last thing on a list that could send the strongest of us, shaking and quivering like jelly. People have been asking for decades why cannot the State control these roving ambassadors of death, who maim, torture, brutalise and kill without mercy or compassion, but there have never been answers and there never will be. Trained to spot and neutralize criminals, the police have taken on the identity of their target and changed the roles. Ordinary people pay the price for this twisted and macabre transformation. The few fine men who have been in the police force may have done some good but overall, the news for the people is bad and getting worse.