Police assaulting police

Nothing surprises in Pakistan anymore. Though harrowing in nature and content the reports claiming that the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Police assaulting police were involved in assaulting Punjab police in Lahore clashes, hardly came as surprise because such degradation is now expected to take place and accepted as the new norm. The most evident proof of this unfortunate development was the immediate transfer of Inspector General of GB police in the wake of the federal information minister Maryam Aurangzeb’s claim that GB police force was being used against Punjab police in the latter’s attempt to arrest PTI chief Imran Khan from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Maryam Aurangzeb’s claim implied that both the police forces were pitted against each other with the GB contingent assaulting the Punjab police. She insisted that the law enforcement officials of the Punjab police were unarmed. This incident reveals the intensity of polarisation in the country that has now enveloped the administrative machinery of the state with this virus spreading to the uniformed and disciplined forces. This certainly is a harrowing prospect for the future and may bring unspeakable woes to the fabric of the country. There is hardly any need to emphasise that this situation cannot be allowed to go on. TW