Accountable police forces |
THE 19th century witnessed a major refinement of policing philosophy. Sir Robert Peel, widely regarded as the father of modern policing, articulated principles that continue to guide democratic police forces. His assertion that “the police are the public, and the public are the police” underlined the idea that police legitimacy flows from public consent rather than coercion. Accountability, restraint, proportionality, and strict adherence to the rule of law were the essential safeguards against the misuse of police power. The evolution of policing thus mirrored the development of the state itself, from coercive authority to regulated power, from force to legitimacy, and from unquestioned command to accountability.
While this modern policing model was taking shape in England, the British introduced policing institutions in their newly conquered Indian colony, beginning with Calcutta and Bombay. The uprising of 1857, however, fundamentally altered British priorities. A centralised, Irish-style constabulary was established with the primary objective of control and maintaining order, largely indifferent to public rights. Despite this, the organisational structure itself was built on principles of command and control.
Independent Pakistan inherited the colonial police architecture, an efficient law-enforcement machinery designed to control the population rather than to serve it. Tragically, successive political and later military rulers largely assumed the role of colonial masters and failed to undertake meaningful police reform. Despite repeated proclamations of intent, numerous committees and commissions, numbering nearly 30, produced reports that were ultimately........