Open the door yourself!

Sir:

Recently, DIG Operations Punjab Police Ahsan Younis issued an order that a police official’s gunman or subordinate was not a personal employee of anyone, and that from now on, officers will open the door of vehicles themselves. I am quite happy about this order because indeed it is a notable and interesting development, which shows his critical views about the things which the majority of officers consider their dire need. On the other hand, this step focused my attention on thinking about why VIP culture even in the 21st century exists in Pakistan and how can we get rid of it?

In order to understand the roots, we have to go back to the British colonial era because we were part of their colonies before 1947 and we followed their model to build our administrative system. As the British era was a monarch-based rule so, the elements of being privileged were prominent in all their systems and the protocol was one of the things, which were considered as a symbol of power. This created a sense of inferiority among the majority of people of the subcontinent; to overcome this they created the ‘Babu Culture’ to make difference from other people. 75 years have passed but even now we see some harsh results of this colonial mindset on several occasions.

Allow me in mentioning some severe outcomes of this mindset that the common people had faced. In Bilawal’s visit to Karachi in 2015, a 10-month-old girl named ‘Bisma’ died at the door of Karachi’s Civil Hospital, a pregnant woman delivered a baby in a rickshaw in 2010 at Quetta due to Asif Ali Zardari’s convoy. In August 2017, Nawaz Sharif’s convoy car crushed a nine-year-old boy. These are some of many incidents that show how these mindsets go beyond their basic protocol ethics. Politicians are not alone, even some citizens practice VIP culture by portraying fancy number plates, blue lights, Pakistan’s flag on their vehicles just to portray their so-called influence.

The Constitution of Pakistan is a beautiful document. You will see equality-based laws in it. But when all the things are already written in the law then why have we failed to eradicate this culture? To eradicate this, we have to do a critical analysis about where it comes from and should differentiate between rule of law and rule by law and we should consider the empowering of the law enforcement institutions because they are the only ones who have the ability to implement the constitution. Punjab police should go the extra mile besides this step to improve their image. Other provinces’ police should also take such measures.

Wajid Ali | Lahore