Conversation with Police Officers
May 4, 2009
It happened today at Tipu Sultan Road while I was on my way to office. I was speaking to a friend on phone and saw two amazingly smart and innocent looking policemen 
asking me to pull over. I did so as every responsible citizen would do.
Policeman 1: Assalam O Alaikum Sir. Can I see the documents of your car?
Talha(Myself): Wsalam. Sure. (I gave him the documents and he walked over to his partner and looked at the documents)
Policeman 1: Sir you were talking on phone and you’ve violated traffic rules and we will have to issue you a ticket for Rs.512. Please give us you driving license.
I said: Are you traffic police?? No. Then why would you give me the ticket??
Then they both looked at each other and then looked at the documents once again and said : You havent paid you car tax since you bought the car. We have dozens of cars locked in our police station for this.
I said: Are you from the Revenue Department?? Thats supposed to be their problem not yours.
At this point they didnt know what else to say. They both said: Sir we can lock up your car and will not release it until you pay the tax.
I said(offering them keys of the car): Sure go on. Lock it up.
They had nothing more to say. Then they tried another act.
Policeman 1: Sir Sahab(The other policeman) thinks you are a nice boy. he thinks you should go here are your documents.
I said Thanks and as I approached the car the first policeman came to me whispering, Koi thanday ka intezam kar dein tou achha hai bohat dhoop hai yahan (meaning: If you can arrange for cold drinks that will be good. Its too hot over here!!)
I looked at them and now both of them were looking like two innocent men begging for a drink. I bought them a drink from the shop across the road and moved on.
I think I did right by not giving them cash and buying drinks. or did I??
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: chalan, Cold Drinks, Convesation, Karachi, Pakistan, Police, ticket, traffic violation.
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1. Conversation with Police Officers | Tea Break | May 4, 2009 at 4:22 pm
[...] This cup of tea was served by: Chatter Box [...]
2.
Faisal Abbas | May 16, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Well, I guess it was right. Not sure though.
I had a conversation with a decent guy who happens to be in police. He is posted in accounts department in Police, so he has ample opportunities to extort money from policemen themselves. He was against rishwat. and said he does not take it, unlike some other of his colleagues who do not process files without taking bribe. However, he narrated a story where a retired policeman had Rs 240,000 stuck in the department and his file was not being processed. He, my friend, took his file and prepared it. He had the retiree guy to pay some 40,000 to some other people in audit department. When the guy got his money, he paid some Rs 20,000 to my friend as gift. He took that, and he was saying “Apni khoshi say diye. Ye rishwat to nahi hui na”.
But, here is another angle:
1) Were you violating rules by talking on phone without hands free while driving?
2) Did you actually not paid your taxes?
My Point : We (and this includes me) do not try to hide our violations, however minor looking, giving signals to every one else on some subliminal level, that it is OK. At least what we can do is to try to hide them, if we cannot stop them.
WE are ALL the same, on one level or the other.
What are your thoughts on this?
3.
Tania Aslam | July 14, 2009 at 5:02 pm
You did right!!!
4.
Nikki | August 30, 2009 at 6:38 am
yeah whatever U did was far better then what they would have done with the money you had given to them
And yeah after all you gave them what they asked for 
5.
Aisha | September 6, 2009 at 12:50 am
well i’d agree to what Faisal Abbas said, adding, to me this sounds like somebody asked me tried to pressurize me to get what they wanted (money) and when they cudnt get that, they kind of convinced me (with a rather begging tone) to give them something atleast,(no matter how little that cost), bottom line! if i say no to rishwat, i shud do so to every little amount of it, and giving the xcuse that “apni khushi say dia”, what made me so happy to buy drinks to2 policemen?!