Welcome overhaul

The general sense of cynicism about the raids conducted by the police under express orders of home minister Bamdev Gautam has now changed into hopes, that the police department will work as a true instrument of the government to establish law and order and the state’s authority. The government, under rigid stance of the home minister has sent 11 senior police officials packing without giving them the two years discretionary extension. No doubt, some of the officials were bright, upright and non-corrupt. But the last two years have seen a general decline in the character and conduct of the police top brass; thanks to the corruption, inefficiency, nepotism and over politicisation of the force by KP Sitaula. The police chief merely assumed the role of an obedient slave of the home minister. He had built a coterie of sycophants around him who were enjoying plum postings in Kathmandu and in a few chosen areas outside. Gautam, who has been home minister before, apparently refused to yield to prime minister Prachanda who was in favour of the current police chief being given a two years extension. Instead, the compromise formula was to let all the top 11 retire and give fresh chance to the younger lot - a move that has injected some hope that the force can indeed be reformed. The new political leadership of the home ministry has already been able to introduce traffic control in the capital. It is a proof that political will can do magic; as the same set of police officials and set-up are involved in regulating and managing the traffic in the capital under the new dispensation. Why did such a vital issue not work in the past? The answer is not difficult. The police leadership was busy appeasing the political masters of the day. It is time the home minister also hits out at the most powerful coterie around the police chief and the police headquarter that wields enormous extra-constitutional power and influence over any new chief. It is said that around three dozen junior and senior officials are always posted in Kathmandu, and they exercise more clout than any senior officials in the department. The coterie is guided by some extra-constitutional and vested interests, and anyone challenging them is harassed and threatened. Bamdev Gautam, given his past stint in the police, knows these facts more than anyone else and it is time he goes for far more decisive attack on the coterie as well. Sitaula as home minister used the Krishna Jung Rayamajhi commission to remove some very competent officials both in the civil as well as the armed police force. It will take a lot of courage to undo the grave crime that Sitaula-Rayamajhi committed. It is too early to say if the Sitaula-Rayamajhi duo’s victims will get justice, but the recent overhaul in the civil police, is a pointer that police leadership must deliver much more than just being slaves of political masters. The latest moves are welcome but certainly not enough.