Lately, the police appear to have gone on a spree killing people with impunity. In the early hours of Saturday, a team of the Anti-Terrorism Squad gunned down a university student, aged 21, named Osama Satti in Islamabad. This is what happens when protectors become destroyers. The state entrusts the police with firearms to protect people; and in a democracy, in effect, it is the people who provide law enforcers with weapons. It is a cruel irony that the same weapons are used for purposes other than they are intended for. In the latest case, there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that the killing was driven by malice, spite and grudge, and this aspect makes the case all the more serious as it points to a stark misuse of power and also serves a blow to the trust put in society’s protectors.
First, the police’s version: they had signalled a suspicious-looking car to stop but Osama, who was driving the vehicle, tried to speed away. They chased the vehicle and fired at the tyres. Two of the bullets hit the young man and he died. However, in the FIR that the victim’s father lodged with police, he said his son told him a day earlier that five cops of the Islamabad police had hurled abuses at him and threatened him with dire consequences. He claimed that on the fateful night when Osama was returning after dropping off a friend, five policemen hit the backside of the car and fired 17 bullets from all four directions killing him on the spot. High-ups of the police reportedly stopped the department from issuing an official statement on the issue.
After being pressed by family members of the victim, a DSP admitted that Osama was killed due to ‘negligence’ by the police, and that “he was innocent.” According to the officer, all the policemen involved in the killing had been arrested. Let us wait for the reports of the investigations ordered into the case. It has become absolutely necessary to inculcate in the police force the importance of restraint. It is this quality that distinguishes man from beasts. When all choices seem wrong, choose restraint.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2278664/polite-for-police
Polite for police? :EDIT in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2021.
Lately, the police appear to have gone on a spree killing people with impunity. In the early hours of Saturday, a team of the Anti-Terrorism Squad gunned down a university student, aged 21, named Osama Satti in Islamabad. This is what happens when protectors become destroyers. The state entrusts the police with firearms to protect people; and in a democracy, in effect, it is the people who provide law enforcers with weapons. It is a cruel irony that the same weapons are used for purposes other than they are intended for. In the latest case, there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that the killing was driven by malice, spite and grudge, and this aspect makes the case all the more serious as it points to a stark misuse of power and also serves a blow to the trust put in society’s protectors.
First, the police’s version: they had signalled a suspicious-looking car to stop but Osama, who was driving the vehicle, tried to speed away. They chased the vehicle and fired at the tyres. Two of the bullets hit the young man and he died. However, in the FIR that the victim’s father lodged with police, he said his son told him a day earlier that five cops of the Islamabad police had hurled abuses at him and threatened him with dire consequences. He claimed that on the fateful night when Osama was returning after dropping off a friend, five policemen hit the backside of the car and fired 17 bullets from all four directions killing him on the spot. High-ups of the police reportedly stopped the department from issuing an official statement on the issue.
After being pressed by family members of the victim, a DSP admitted that Osama was killed due to ‘negligence’ by the police, and that “he was innocent.” According to the officer, all the policemen involved in the killing had been arrested. Let us wait for the reports of the investigations ordered into the case. It has become absolutely necessary to inculcate in the police force the importance of restraint. It is this quality that distinguishes man from beasts. When all choices seem wrong, choose restraint.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2278664/polite-for-police
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan