'Pakistan has turned into prison state, needs to reform its judicial system'

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 31 : Pakistan is fast turning into a prison state and there is a dire need to reform its judicial system even as the raidly increasing number of extra-judicial killings raises serious questions about its justice delivery mechanism.
An analysis in the Al Arabiya Post has found Pakistan Police forces to be understaffed and ill-equipped. Junior officers in the hierarchy have no choice but to follow the orders of their superiors, who often tend to be closely connected with powerful feudal landlords, businessmen, politicians or local crime groups. In addition to this, the Pakistan Police have to routinely deal with terrorists as well as hardened criminals.
As a result of operating in a dangerous environment of hardened crime, when it comes to suspected criminals or disfavoured groups, the police have a carte blanche to ignore procedure and engage in a policy of extra-judicial executions, enforced disappearances and custodial torture of suspects.
Cases against this sort of abuse of police power are rarely filed because the police tend to harass those who do so along with threats of dire consequences. The full range of these abuses was catalogued in a 102-page report by Human Rights Watch, reported Al Arabiya Post.
The personification of this approach to policing is Rao Anwar Ahmed Khan, a former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the Malir District of Karachi. Rao Anwar is infamous for having, according to records, 444 killings of criminals in encounters. Not a single policeman was even injured, let alone killed in all these encounters.
Well known for his political ties, the extent of his infamy can be gauged by the fact that the US Treasury Department included him on its sanctions list for human rights violations. Anwar has also been accused by many people of being involved in land-grabbing in Karachi, forcing people to sell their land to property developers.
On the rare occasions where he has been suspended, his appeals to various Courts have resulted in the suspensions being rapidly overturned. Anwar's extra-judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud led to his arrest amidst intense public outrage, but he quickly got bail and is currently at large, reported Al Arabiya Post.
It is ironic that despite overwhelming evidence of his involvement, criminal sanctions and account freezes by the USA, public outrage, other allegations of criminal abuse of his position of authority and a lengthy and controversial record of extra-judicial killings, Anwar was easily able to secure bail and remains free to this day, while many members of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) have either been killed or are languishing in jail on vague charges.
Pakistan's legal system places an enormous amount of power on its police by virtue of the colonial-era laws and mentality it inherited, reported Al Arabiya Post.
The police system however is chronically underfunded and subject to an enormous degree of corruption. In its present form, the police serve only to protect those who are powerful and well-connected, with police harassment and frivolous cases acting as a sword to punish enemies and the bail system and derailed investigations serving as a shield to protect the powerful from any accountability for its actions.
The Pakistan police system requires much investment, both in the provision of resources as well as an overhaul of its culture and mechanisms for ensuring impartiality, the Al Arabiya Post said.