RAWALPINDI – While no high-up of Rawalpindi police seems to be in a mood to rein in defiant station house officers (SHOs) of various police stations of the city, the victims who have been struggling hard to get registered their cases with police since long, have appealed to Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Haji Habib-ur-Rehman to take action against the police officials for not mitigating the public grievances.
Almost SHOs of all the police stations have not been registering First Information Reports (FIRs) of even some heinous crimes despite strict instructions of City Police Officer (CPO) Azhar Hameed Khokhar or SPs, in a bid to show that there is no crime occurring in their jurisdictions and all is going well.
Background interviews with some police officers, who enjoy very good repute in the police department, revealed that political interference in appointments of the heads of police stations is on peak and also the mother of all the evils that the SHOs prefer to polish the shoes of their political masters instead of complying orders of their real bosses like CPO and SPs.
“In police department, dismissal from service or suspension is considered the worst punishment which may force any police officer to perform his duty with commitment and dedication. But when a police officer knows that his political master will save him from any such departmental action then how he be sincere with public or his bosses” the police officers wishing anonymity said.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is relevantly known as strict administrator and also publicly admitted that despite hard efforts he could not get desired results from police, should end political intervention from police department to lessen the public miseries, they urged.
In a worst kind of defiance, SHO PS Saddar Bairooni Suhail Zafar has hell bent on humiliating an innocent citizen, who has been plundered by swindlers in May 2010, by not lodging an FIR against the accused so far, even though, SP Rural Waheed-ur-Rehman Khattak ordered him thrice after holding an inquiry on the instructions of CPO Azhar Hameed Khokher.
Iftikhar Zulfiqar, a resident of Rah-e-Sakoon Adyala Road, told this scribe on Monday that he has been running from pillar to post to pen in his case with PS Saddar Bairooni against the swindlers who swindled Rs 325,000 from him but SHO was filing a case rather humiliating him.
He said that all the orders of SP Rural Waheed-ur-Rehman Khattak, who held a detail inquiry into the matter and recommended strict departmental action against the officials of the police station besides asking SHO to register FIR immediately, have been thrown into dustbin by SHO Suhail Zafar. He said that SHO did not attend his phone calls or meet him which indicated that he was not willing to solve my case. “I appeal to IGP Punjab Haji Habib-ur-Rehman to come forward and rescue me,” Iftikhar said.
When this scribe contacted SP Rural Waheed for his comments, he said that he would call SHO and the complainant in his office today (Tuesday) to sort out the matter.
Following the footsteps of Suhail Zafar, SHO Pirwadhai Malik Tahir has broken all the records of ‘police negligence’ by not filing a case on a complaint lodged by a citizen against his newly married wife, who had stolen jewellery and cash and runaway.
Naved Shah son of Iqbal Shah, 24, resident of Fauji Colony told TheNation that he knotted his tie with a girl Sumaira Bibi in August 2011 in Karachi. After the marriage, he shifted his wife in Rawalpindi. But his wife stole all jewellery and cash and ran away, he added.
He said that he filed an application against his wife in PS Pirwadhai on August 17, 2011 for legal action but police misbehaved with him instead of filing a case. He said that he visited SHO Pirwadhai Malik Tahir for many times but he was not paying heed.
SHO Malik Tahir, during an interaction with this scribe, said that he was ready to take action against Sumaira but her husband Naved (complainant) stopped him with an request to just recover stolen stuff from her and to not file a case against the lady.
Naved Shah, when contacted again to confirm SHO’s stance, lost his temper and said, “Malik Tahir is telling a lie just to save his skin from any possible action that can be taken against him after surfacing the issue in media.”
SP Rawal Town Malik Matloob Ahmed Awan was not available for his point of view.