There was a time when if a cop was killed, every Busta Alif bad character in the district, or even range, was summoned to the police station where he was registered. (There used to be an ‘A’ Register which contained the name of every badmash, or bad character, in the police station’s limits. Everyone in that register had to appear when summoned. Not appearing was an offence.) And when summoned, they would be thrashed to within an inch of their lives. The idea was that if anyone got the impression that the cop killing meant that there was any lessening of the control of the police, they were swiftly disabused of the notion.
So would the criminal assault of a female ASI in Muzaffargarh merit such treatment, or did the local flatties rely on what the prime minister and noted that the accused was not a robot, and had been provoked beyond endurance by her uniform? I hope that the next step is not the commission of criminal assaults upon SHOs. Or those like a recent CCPO Lahore who believe that assaults are the victim’s fault.
Of course, the Muzaffargarh case was pretty straightforward when compared to the one in Indian Punjab. It seems there a lady constable, a married woman, was persuaded by her SHO to convert, so that her marriage was dissolved, and marry him. He was already married.
And then there is the case in our own Gujrat, where a woman was murdered after being criminally assaulted by three. The only thing the death sentence for rape seems to have done is make criminal assaulters kill their victims, to prevent them identifying them.
The Nigerian police have got different problems. The latest victim of a kidnapping-for-ransom was Nelson Effiong, an ex-senator, who was kidnapped from his sit-ou in Oyo. A sit-out ‘is roughly what we would call a dera, though I don’t think it would have any buffaloes wandering around, or any dungcakes on the wall. Of course, our police won’t allow any senators, no matter how ex, to be kidnapped.
However, as the coup in Guinea reminded us, there are other concerns beyond senators. The coup was carried out by the Guinean special forces, which were being trained at home by the US Green Berets. The new president is a mere colonel, not a four-star officer. Well, there are still some patriots left in Guinea, it seems. Actually, a colonel is an improvement. As recently as 2008, a captain had carried out the coup. This coup overthrew Alpha Conde, who had been elected last year to a third five-year term.
Bef condemned iore Alpha Cone Taliban dulde was elected, the 2008 coupmakers had taken over after President Lansana Conte had died. He himself had come to office after a 1984 coup, when he had been a colonel, and the President, Ahmad Sekou Toure, had died.
So this coup was a little unusual, for the president hadn’t died. Well, he was 73. And he was a mere civilian, so by definition corrupt.
The Guinean Special Forces seems to have done better than the Afghan, for when the Afghan National Army collapsed, it was basically its Special Forces that did the running. I didn’t hear any regrets from anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud that he didn’t have any Special Forces. He still had to surrender Panjshir, which was the first time it fell to an enemy. The Soviets had never been able to occupy it despite several offensives, and the Taliban failed to take it last time in ls. office. No wonder there were celebrations in Kabul by heavy aerial firing.
I wonder how the Taliban celebrated the Great Escape by six Palestinians from an Israeli jail. Four have been recaptured, but maybe the Israelis should put their jails under their special forces. After all, they had put their government under a commando, Ariel Sharon, who followed up founding the Israeli special forces by becoming PM. And the having a stroke and dying later.
Speaking of special forces, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has not ordered in commandos, but has changed his chief secretary and IGP again, for he sixth time. That means a CS or an IGP has an average tenure of about six months. I wonder if Buzdar has heard the saying that it’s a bad workman that quarrels with his tools.
Maybe he should look harder for Shehbaz Sharif’s Wellington boots. The monsoon has been particularly harsh only now, and areas in Buzdar’s capital which have never been flooded before, have now come under water.
