Salary: rupees 4000 (including house rent of rupees 150).  One pair of uniform trousers and two shirts every year.  One pair of shoes every three years.  This is the lot of a police constable in Pakistan.

            The situation is more or less the same further up the ladder.  A senior inspector of a police station and the SHO, both Grade 16 officers, earn about 6000 rupees each, which includes house rent of 500 rupees.  There are no medical benefits, no overtime pay and no official provision for paid leave.  “I support a 13-member family,” says a senior inspector at one of the 343 police stations across Sindh.  “How can I possibly manage it within my salary?”  However, his smart mobile phone itself is evidence that he has more than one source of income. 

            With 85 per cent of the police budget consumed by salaries, there is little left over for day to day expenses.  While amenities such as electricity, telephone and water are paid for by the government, there are no funds allocated for maintenance of official vehicles or stationery, or even for investigation.  The 15 litres of fuel provided for each mobile and two for each motorcycle are the sum total of the daily expenses catered for in the budget.  This is a fraction of the amount actually required for 24-hour patrolling.

            Discloses a source, “After 11 pm, you will rarely see any taxis, motorbikes or Suzuki pick-ups on the road because their drivers know that the police mobiles will catch hold of them and extract money from them for diesel.”

            At the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station, which oversees an area where vehicle theft, dacoities and house robberies are frequent occurences, the 200 personnel have four mobiles and 20 motorcycles at their disposal.  Often, private vehicles are pressed into service to cope with patrolling duties.  It is estimated that the average annual expenditure on patrolling alone at this police station adds up to two lakh rupees.  The massive shortfall, as in the case of other expenses, is made up through unofficial sources.

             Says the SHO at another police station, “Maintenance of the vehicles is a constant headache.  We go to a workshop in the area, and ask them to fix the problem.  They are generally very ‘cooperative.’  I know an official who got into trouble when someone complained that he had work worth 10,000 rupees done on the police mobile for free, but what could he do?”

            Every police station has its own revenue-generating sources, known as the “beat.”  The head constable assigns constables to collect the “beat money” from various areas under his jurisdiction.  About 20 per cent of vendors’ income is appropriated.  The most lucrative thanas are thus those with the largest number of vendors in the area.  Outdoor restaurants also pay bhatta, particularly if there are public complaints against their business.

            Apart from vendors, construction companies are regular, albeit reluctant, contributors to the income of the police.  Here, it is the SHO who, alongwith the sub-divisional magistrate, approaches the builders of underconstruction buildings which violate the building code in some way.  According to a source, “In Karachi, for the SDMs, the SHOs are their only source of income.”

     Tankers are another lucrative means for generating funds and 10 to 20 rupees are extracted from each tanker plying in the area.  A police official says candidly, “If the tanker driver refuses to part with any cash, he is either challaned for lack of documents or his vehicle is confiscated, which means that the driver has to pay more to get it released.”  Needless to say, the police get their own way most of the time. 

            Finally, there are the criminals who bribe the police.  “Thanas where plenty of cases are registered are considered goldmines.  Criminals pay off the police for treating them leniently, or for registering FIRs against them in such a way that their cases can be expeditiously disposed by the courts and they be set free,” discloses an official.

            Asked how he runs his police station, an SHO smiles and says, “Allah chalata hai  (God runs it).”  At that moment, a DSP arrives to meet him in a luxurious Honda VTI.  With a salary of not more than 10,000 rupees, the gods have obviously smiled upon him.

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