Salaam
Police hands have been tied. Why do you think 600 policemen have been injured ? Do you think they are not trained at all even after decades of COIN and AT occurrences?
My suggestion is to stop blaming Police like other immature members here. Its the leadership and decision makers who are weak in their stance. Police follows orders from Govt and Bureaucracy. Try to analyze whats going on instead of jumping on the bandwagon to malign police.
And let me tell you that SPs and SSPs who had been deployed in Lahore before and then posted outside Punjab due to political rifts are being approached to come back to Lahore and handle situation, but when they ask about Police being given free hand, their requests are declined.
I am not a spokes person of Punjab Police, but 600 injured policemen is not something to be taken lightly. Do you know that a regular infantry battalion has 770 odd troops, so 600 injured troops would mean that the whole battalion is ineffective for combat now. It would either need replacements of 600 troops or it would be out of combat. Reserve troops or Punjab Constabulary is not as effective as regular policemen on duty. Rangers have been called in too, why don't you start blaming the Rangers too ? There are other Government agencies at work also, lets blame CID and FIA also, shall we ? Also bear in mind that hospitals in Lahore are already filled with COVID patients. Hospital beds are in scarcity. There have been shahadats in Police. Those shaheeds were on active duty and did not need to lay their lives for the sake of terrorizing TLP thugs or incapable policy makers, yet they followed orders and fought till their last breaths wearing their boots.
Should you start blaming the police or should you think if the decision makers could have made better policies and strategies to handle situation on ground?
I know you personally since back in 2006/7, so I have explained a few points to you, otherwise I prefer not to engage with every brainwashed immature Tom Dick and Harry here. Rest is up to you.
Thank you for explaining. I actually do agree with you said. My point was simply about the quoted video of the beating and the fact that it was filmed. It was about this sort of thing specifically and not a generalized statement. I do apologize if it came of as such.
I also do agree that our security forces are working with very limited resources like proper riot gear and equipment needed (in sufficient quantities) to deal with a variety of such situations.
Even adopting newer training methods and techniques would require resources for retraining and importing of expertise from abroad.
With regards to the proper planning, that is indeed something that is at the core of a lot of our problems. Ad-hocism seldom leads to optimization. This action should have been anticipated and properly planned for before hand. Relevant authorities warned and given time to prepare for contingencies.
Regarding the TLP and their actions, I hope I don't have to write much other than I obviously disagree with their actions and do not think they are justified under law of deen or dunya.
And lastly, I do accept my lack of deep understanding of the issues that the police departments and law enforcements face here. We often hear about issues and the much needed reforms but what these reforms would or should entail is rarely mentioned. I would actually request you to write something about this, and what sort of reforms do you think could improve law enforcement in Pakistan. I'd be most interested to learn and be educated about this side of things.
What a sad sad day!!
Sad to see thr government surrendering like this. Will only pave way for further protests, dharnas, anarchy and blackmail whenever a party needs to get their way. Very disappointed.
I actually was hoping for something like this. The agreement would let things settle down and once that happens the state would be able to work on a well thought out strategy to deal with these elements in a lasting manner (I hope).
This avoids unnecessary bloodshed and violence as well as lets the day to day life continue as normal. There were too many risk factors (both foreign and domestic) and I felt a bit of 'presence of mind' was needed to get out of this situation with as little damage as possible.
I just hope that the follow up is properly planned and carried out before such a situation arises again. I do actually think that as this situation was allowed to play out a bit, it likely has (hopefully) opened the eyes of the decision makers to the dangers of such elements.
