Incidents of police torture in Punjab have been in the limelight - we are not going to talk about the scores that haven't and the issue begs the question whether we do need the kind of police we have in Punjab. Not that this is for the first time there were deaths in police torture cells; this has happened multiple times before. But this past week thanks to electronic and social media we saw it happening right in front of us, and therefore very disturbing. Salahuddin Ayubi was insane and had his name and address tattooed on his arm. As he broke an ATM he knew he was being watched, and stuck out his tongue as if saying 'so what'. Two months later when he was spotted in another city by people and handed over to police, he didn't know what was all that. And when police thrashed him he asked his nemesis "who taught you to torture people". He died in police custody. Then there was this Amir Masih, who the world saw being kicked and dragged to a private clinic only to breathe his last. His post-mortem report shows he was subjected to brutal torture. In Pakpattan, an old man was roughed up by the police because he tried to join the line reserved for VIPs to "Gate of Paradise". In Vehari, a woman domestic help of a landlord family was tortured by police and the sons of a landlord at a private interrogation centre. Then there was this 80-year-old woman who wanted to convey her grievance to the highest in office, but that was not acceptable to a junior who was seen shouting at her, and in extreme anger threw away her walking stick. These episodes are only a glimpse of what is called 'thana culture', and refuses to go away in the 'Naya Pakistan' as it didn't in 'old' Pakistan when police encounters were order of the day. The political masters in Lahore do what they are good at doing; three IGPs changed in less than a year; the erratic officials are suspended and inquiries instituted. That's it.
Police in Punjab routinely torture suspects and witnesses to extract evidence. Also, in some cases, the dead suspects are identified as those killed in exchange of fire. According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, before 2013 and March 2015 almost 1062 were killed by police. We don't have the latest figures, but if the past week's record is any guide that number of killed would be much higher. A study conducted by Justice Project Pakistan discovered as many as 1184 confirmed cases of police torture from 2012 to 2014. Not that political masters are pleased with these figures; they are not but they are helpless - because, thanks the men in police force, they hold sway in their constituencies and win elections. Of course, committees and commissions to look into the obnoxious 'thana culture' are set up, but at end of the day police force retains its originality. The courts wanted evidence and only a very few suspects would give voluntarily; hence extraction of evidence by brutish force. Hopefully, that was in the past. Now there is the whole host of forensic capabilities including DNA, fingerprints, lie-detectors, close circuit cameras, phone records and bank statements which obviate the necessity of confession extracted by police officials in their torture cells. If there was justification for separate police force to man traffic there is the need now that the investigation should be separated from the law-enforcement branch. The Pakistan Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act, too, need to be extensively updated by allowing forensics as direct evidence. It is the time to convert the torture-proficient police into a public service entity, and the 'thana' should shun its draconian semblance.