What happened the other day on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway involving two army captains and a motorway police team is an affront to civilised sensibilities. According to media reports, the two officers in a speeding private car were signalled by a police patrol to stop, but they paid no heed. The patrol team gave a chase, as they were expected to, forcing the vehicle to halt. Furious at being checked for violating the speed limit, one of the captains got off from his vehicle to point a pistol at the Assistant Patrol Officer while the other made a phone call to seek help from a nearby army unit. Responding to the call a major leading a 25-man strong force riding in four vehicles arrived on the scene to teach a lesson to the law enforcers. As per the police version, together they roughed up an on-duty officer and took him along with other members of the patrol team to the Attock Fort where they were kept in confinement until higher police officials intervened to have them released.
Unsurprising, the three army officers' alleged outrageous behaviour has generated public anger and resentment, on display all over the social media. The incident would be bad for the image of the army at anytime, all the more so at present as the soldiers are engaged in anti-terrorism operations in different parts of the country, raising fresh concerns about possible misuse of power for personal ends by some unscrupulous elements. Why did the army men act the way they did? The answer is a general lack of respect for the law, reinforced by a sense of impunity they draw from a legal anomaly. As it is, under the CrPC the police cannot arrest any serving member of the armed forces without the consent of the relevant unit's commanding officer and informing the military police about it. Under the Pakistan Army Act, even when an arrest is allowed the police are obliged to hand over such an accused to the military if so required.
Describing the incident as 'sad', the ISPR has said an inquiry is being conducted, and that "justice will be done". It did not inspire much confidence, however, when the ISPR spokesman talked of "a history of harassment by motorway police at the section of the motorway where the incident took place". Even if the accusation of harassment is true, there can be no justification whatsoever either for the captain to point a pistol at an on-duty police officer or a major to run to his colleagues' aid at the head of a contingent to 'arrest' civilian law enforcers. There is photographic evidence in newspapers showing an armed soldier - others in the party can also be seen standing by - dragging Assistant Patrol Officer Jalal Shah while another person in civvies - probably one of the captains in the speeding car - is about to punch him. Contents of the picture seem to endorse the charges contained in the police FIR registered under various sections of the CrPC for rash driving, obstructing a public servant in discharge of his duty, assault on a public servant, criminal intimidation, and threatening to cause death or grievous hurt, kidnapping and rioting while armed with a deadly weapon. Given the gravity of the charges, the result of the inquiry to be held by the army and the punishments handed to the accused must be made public. In the meanwhile, the honourable course of action for the army would be to allow the arrest by the police of the two officers accused of committing offences within civilian jurisdiction.