Imran Khan
TLP issue: Several Pakistan police force members vent anger as Imran Khan govt negotiates with banned group
Several Pakistan police force members have said there is a growing sense of “betrayal” among their colleagues after the government negotiated with and met the demands of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party (TLP) despite officers being “killed, tortured and humiliated” by the group’s supporters during protests this month.
Demonstration turned violent in Pakistan last month after TLP chief Saad Rizvi was arrested in Lahore for threatening the government with rallies if it did not expel the French envoy to Islamabad over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) published in France last year.
According to reports, six policemen were killed and over 800 injured during the incident.
A policeman, who was taken hostage and ultimately released by the TLP in the eastern city of Lahore, the center of the violence, told Arab News it was “highly demoralizing” that the government had released rioters who had assaulted police.
“There is no problem in negotiations with protesters,” he told Arab News in an interview last week, declining to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media on the record. “But how can you set those free who have killed, tortured and humiliated law enforcers?”
Another senior police officer said, “The police don’t see any point in performing their duties after what has been done to us."
“We don’t have answers to the questions our staff asks us, and we don’t know how to motivate them after this disgrace," the police officer told Arab News.
Saleem Vahidy, a former deputy inspector general of Sindh police, said the confidence of the force has “hit rock bottom.”
“When you set free criminals who are arrested for serious breaches of the law, you are setting a dangerous precedent and sending the wrong message," Vahidy told Arab News.
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