Police Violence in Pakistan: Forms and Justifications

Abstract

Police force is regarded as one of the most important internal security forces given a mission to monitor law and order situation in the country and curb any sort of violent or criminal activities. The term "Police Violence" it-self sounds awkward and contradictory, but it refers to a situation where allegedly this law enforcing agency is involved in violating rights of the public and is involved in some sort of misuse or over use of its powers, hence troubling the general public in one way or the other. This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews with different stakeholders (including the Police force it-self) identified by the researchers and tries to integrate their responses and explore different forms of such alleged violence and importantly investigate potential circumstances where this over use of power is justified or is given protection. Different stakeholders have different opinion on the subject under study.

Keywords: Police Violence, State, Politicians, Governance, Rule of Law, Legitimacy, Qualitative Research.