THE long-term implications of the agreement between the government and the leaders of the Faizabad sit-in can be gauged in a nutshell by the abduction of two police officials allegedly at the hands of some of the protesters. They were kidnapped on Sunday from a hospital in Rawalpindi where they were present in connection with the death of a man during the clashes on Saturday. Harrowing details have emerged of their ordeal since they were found alive, battered and bruised, a day later.

According to the two sub-inspectors, they were kept deprived of food and water and brutally beaten by their kidnappers. Even more horrifying, the latter also threatened to douse them in petrol and set them alight. That they did not act upon the threat was apparently either because their hostages begged for their lives and convinced them that they were not at fault or because of the agreement subsequently reached between the government and the protest leaders. The injuries suffered by one of the policemen are severe enough to keep him away from work for over a month.

If the kidnappers were indeed participants of the dharna, the fact that they will almost certainly suffer no repercussions for their brazen act of criminality is a body blow to the police`s morale and its professionalism. Notwithstanding their shortcomings, which are largely on account of lack of resources and training, as well as an excess of political meddling, the police is first in the line of fire. In recent years, their job has been particularly dangerous: hundreds of them have been targeted by extremists, killed while trying to foil suicide bombers, etc. In developed countries, there are serious consequences for those who commit crimes against the police because the latter plays such a critical role in good governance.

In Pakistan however, while they are expected to incur the very considerable risks that go with their job, their protections are being further whittled away ironically enough, by the state itself.