{"id":61068,"date":"2026-08-30T06:51:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T06:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/?p=61068"},"modified":"2026-08-30T06:51:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T06:51:42","slug":"fateh-jang-digital-post-fateh-jangs-open-court-where-did-this-pure-man-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/?p=61068","title":{"rendered":"Fateh Jang (Digital Post) Fateh Jang’s Open Court: Where Did This Pure Man Come From?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fateh Jang (Digital Post) Fateh Jang’s Open Court: Where Did This Pure Man Come From?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was sitting at the Islamabad Press Club. In front of me was a gathering of friends, and as usual, the conversation revolved around the politics of the city, journalism, and the new creature born between the two \u2014 social media. Mobile phones lay silent on the table, but every few moments the lighting up of one screen or another would break that silence.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, my phone rang.<\/p>\n

On the other end was a friend from Multan. He told me that a complaint had emerged against him and that he had to appear before the DPO Attock’s open court.<\/p>\n

I said, “Okay, I’ll give you a pick and drop.”<\/p>\n

Then I paused for a moment and clearly said, “But sitting in an open court is not part of my temperament.”<\/p>\n

The truth is that I have always kept a cautious distance from open courts. Perhaps because over the past few years, the meaning of an open court has also changed in our country. Once, it used to be a direct channel of communication between the public and the officer. Now, in many places, it has become a stage where cameras are more important than the public.<\/p>\n

The officer in the chair.<\/p>\n

Cameras in front.<\/p>\n

The lighting at the right angle.<\/p>\n

Subordinate staff standing in order.<\/p>\n

A few formal rounds of applause.<\/p>\n

Some pictures.<\/p>\n

Then a video on social media.<\/p>\n

And the next day’s headline:<\/p>\n

“Officer’s spectacular public open court.”<\/p>\n

We have entered an era where, at times, the video of the work becomes more important than the work itself. More than performance, its display is observed, and more than the decision, the manner in which the decision is announced becomes the subject of discussion.<\/p>\n

Journalism has not remained safe from this epidemic either.<\/p>\n

On one side is the race for ratings, and on the other is the race for views. Somewhere likes determine who is truthful, and somewhere a trending hashtag decides who is important. Some journalists spend morning to evening creating stories against their own institutions in which there is less news and more sensationalism. The names and style of popular figures like Imran Riaz Khan have also popularized a model of journalism where the speed of allegations moves far ahead of investigation.<\/p>\n

A second model has become popular in the police as well.<\/p>\n

Get applause.<\/p>\n

Put up cameras.<\/p>\n

Fix the lighting.<\/p>\n

Keep the officer at the center.<\/p>\n

Make the subordinates stand at an appropriate distance.<\/p>\n

And if a subordinate needs to be reprimanded, do that in front of the camera as well, so that the public knows how strict the officer is.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why I was willing to go with my friend, but I was not prepared to sit in the open court.<\/p>\n

My friend said:<\/p>\n

“You should come. This officer is different.”<\/p>\n

I did not pay much attention.<\/p>\n

We journalists often hear phrases like “this officer is different.” About every other officer, some friend tells us that he is very bold, very honest, very principled, very strict.<\/p>\n

I also dismissed it as a conventional phrase.<\/p>\n

Then I thought, let’s see.<\/p>\n

Little did I know that this seemingly ordinary decision was going to open a new chapter in my mind about an officer.<\/p>\n

We arrived at the open court of DPO Attock Captain (R) Ali bin Tariq.<\/p>\n

And the very first scene was unexpected for me.<\/p>\n

There was no traditional atmosphere of “Shadow of God.”<\/p>\n

He did not look like a king sitting on a lofty throne.<\/p>\n

He had eliminated the psychological elevation of his chair and stage that, in our official culture, creates a silent wall between the officer and the public.<\/p>\n

He was sitting close to the public.<\/p>\n

Apparently, this was a minor administrative decision, but in reality, it was a deep psychological message.<\/p>\n

The hallmark of a good officer is that sometimes he makes decisions that are not recorded in any file, but their impact is certainly felt in people’s hearts.<\/p>\n

When an officer sits on a high stage, the complainant unconsciously feels weak. Before speaking, he thinks several times, weighs his words, reads the expressions on the officer’s face, and sometimes cannot even fully explain his actual complaint.<\/p>\n

But when the officer brings himself down from that height, a psychological wall breaks.<\/p>\n

The message is:<\/p>\n

“I have come to listen, not to rule.”<\/p>\n

This difference is not minor.<\/p>\n

The very purpose of an open court is to listen to the public. If an officer needs a stage, protocol, and distance even to listen, then what is the difference between an open court and an ordinary office?<\/p>\n

I received my second shock when a complainant, while presenting his application, tried to use victimhood as an argument.<\/p>\n

Ali bin Tariq stopped him immediately.<\/p>\n

At that very moment, I realized that this man knew the difference between hearing a complaint and hearing an act of victimhood.<\/p>\n

This is not a minor thing.<\/p>\n

Not every complaint is true.<\/p>\n

And not everyone who cries is a victim.<\/p>\n

A strange psychological problem has developed in our government offices. A person who speaks louder, becomes more emotional, cries more, or gathers more people around himself is often considered more oppressed.<\/p>\n

Ali bin Tariq gave no room to this game.<\/p>\n

He was listening to emotions, but he was not handing decisions over to emotions.<\/p>\n

At one point, someone said that he was a “Syed.”<\/p>\n

Ali bin Tariq immediately replied:<\/p>\n

“I am not a Syed, but when it comes to justice, I do not distinguish between a Syed and a non-Syed.”<\/p>\n

Just one sentence.<\/p>\n

But that one sentence contained an entire administrative philosophy.<\/p>\n

A state office does not look at lineage.<\/p>\n

The law does not ask about blood.<\/p>\n

Justice does not look at family.<\/p>\n

The complainant’s caste, family background, or closeness to a political group should not change the decision.<\/p>\n

This is the fundamental difference between a state officer and a locally influential person.<\/p>\n

A locally influential person looks at relationships.<\/p>\n

A state officer looks at principles.<\/p>\n

And if an officer abandons principles, he may still have the uniform, but he no longer has the state.<\/p>\n

I was also observing one more thing carefully in this open court.<\/p>\n

Ali bin Tariq was not becoming emotional.<\/p>\n

He was not getting angry immediately over any complaint.<\/p>\n

Nor was there any performance of “strict action” on every application.<\/p>\n

In our country, “strict action” has also now become a form of public relations.<\/p>\n

The microphone appeared.<\/p>\n

The officer reddened his eyes.<\/p>\n

Scolded someone.<\/p>\n

Suspended someone.<\/p>\n

Applause followed.<\/p>\n

A video was made.<\/p>\n

The officer succeeded.<\/p>\n

But the real question is: was justice also done?<\/p>\n

Ali bin Tariq suspended an SHO, but the way he did it contained more composure than anger.<\/p>\n

Here I felt that the officer sitting before me understood the difference between firmness and anger.<\/p>\n

A tough decision is not always made out of anger.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the toughest decision is the one made with an extremely calm mind.<\/p>\n

Anger urges a person to make a decision immediately.<\/p>\n

Composure gives a person the opportunity to understand the decision.<\/p>\n

In policing, this difference is very important, because a police officer’s one order can affect someone’s dignity, job, freedom, and future.<\/p>\n

The greater the authority an officer possesses, the more important self-restraint becomes for him.<\/p>\n

I saw this very thing in Ali bin Tariq’s open court.<\/p>\n

He was distinguishing between a complaint and an allegation.<\/p>\n

Distinguishing between pain and drama.<\/p>\n

Distinguishing between emotions and reality.<\/p>\n

And perhaps above all, he understood the difference between listening and accepting.<\/p>\n

Very few officers understand this difference.<\/p>\n

Listening to someone’s words is not justice.<\/p>\n

Accepting someone’s words is also not justice.<\/p>\n

Justice is to hear both sides, and then accept whatever is correct.<\/p>\n

There was another interesting scene there.<\/p>\n

There were many people.<\/p>\n

Complainants too.<\/p>\n

Spectators too.<\/p>\n

Personalities too.<\/p>\n

And this was exactly where an officer’s psychological understanding became evident.<\/p>\n

He realized that if every person was kept inside simply because he was a “personality,” then the actual complainants would be left behind.<\/p>\n

He reduced the unnecessary crowd and apologized to those personalities who were not complainants.<\/p>\n

Apparently, this decision might seem contrary to protocol, but in reality, this was the true protocol of public service.<\/p>\n

Because an open court is not an officer’s private gathering.<\/p>\n

It is the complainant’s time.<\/p>\n

The person who has been sitting since morning waiting for his turn loses his trust when an important personality is given preference simply on the basis of a relationship or position.<\/p>\n

Ali bin Tariq avoided this psychological injustice.<\/p>\n

And I began thinking that perhaps a good officer is not the one who makes everyone happy.<\/p>\n

A good officer is the one who gives the right person the right amount of time.<\/p>\n

My friend was also sitting in the same open court to respond to a complaint.<\/p>\n

His application was presented last.<\/p>\n

The wait was long.<\/p>\n

And the truth is that for a journalist, sitting and listening to other people’s complaints can sometimes itself be a strange experience.<\/p>\n

Someone’s land issue.<\/p>\n

Someone’s family dispute.<\/p>\n

Someone’s grievance against the police.<\/p>\n

Someone’s allegation against an officer.<\/p>\n

Someone’s plea.<\/p>\n

Someone’s appeal.<\/p>\n

Someone’s anger.<\/p>\n

Someone’s silence.<\/p>\n

And among all of them sat an officer who was continuously reading people.<\/p>\n

This was the point where I first felt that policing is not merely about reading a book of law.<\/p>\n

It is also the skill of reading human beings.<\/p>\n

If an officer cannot distinguish between a person’s face, tone, words, and silence, then he remains merely a paper police officer.<\/p>\n

A true police officer is one who tries to understand what the actual problem behind a complaint is.<\/p>\n

Who is genuinely suffering?<\/p>\n

Who is angry?<\/p>\n

Who is being used by someone?<\/p>\n

Who is demanding his right?<\/p>\n

And who wants to use the state by dressing his personal interest in the clothes of victimhood?<\/p>\n

This cannot be completely written in any SOP.<\/p>\n

It requires experience, observation, temperament, and above all, the intention to be just.<\/p>\n

I saw this very thing in Ali bin Tariq.<\/p>\n

He was not sitting for the camera, at least that is not how it seemed to me that day.<\/p>\n

He was not trying to earn applause.<\/p>\n

He was not trying to prove his power by humiliating his subordinates.<\/p>\n

He did not seem impressed by the height of his chair.<\/p>\n

And perhaps that was why, sitting beside him, I felt for the first time that the true beauty of authority lies not in displaying authority, but in keeping it under control.<\/p>\n

We have created a strange definition of power in our society.<\/p>\n

The one who scolds more is powerful.<\/p>\n

The one who makes more noise is bold.<\/p>\n

The one who humiliates a subordinate in front of everyone is a strict officer.<\/p>\n

The one who bangs his hand on the table in front of the camera is a great commander.<\/p>\n

But this is not power.<\/p>\n

This is a display of power.<\/p>\n

Real power belongs to the person who can raise his voice if he wants to, but remains silent when there is no need.<\/p>\n

Who can humiliate someone publicly if he wants to, but chooses the path of dignity for correction.<\/p>\n

Who can issue the harshest order on every complaint if he wants to, but first finds out the truth.<\/p>\n

I saw a glimpse of this power in Ali bin Tariq’s open court.<\/p>\n

On the way back, I looked at my friend.<\/p>\n

He perhaps read the question in my eyes.<\/p>\n

I said:<\/p>\n

“Where did this pure man come from?”<\/p>\n

He smiled.<\/p>\n

I smiled too.<\/p>\n

But this question stayed with me throughout the entire journey back.<\/p>\n

A pure man.<\/p>\n

We have also lost this word in a strange way.<\/p>\n

We have put every person into one box or another.<\/p>\n

He is political.<\/p>\n

He is a journalist.<\/p>\n

He is a policeman.<\/p>\n

He is a bureaucrat.<\/p>\n

He is someone’s man.<\/p>\n

He belongs to such-and-such group.<\/p>\n

We have even turned honesty into a matter of groupings.<\/p>\n

If someone belongs to our favorite camp, he is honest.<\/p>\n

If he is on the other side, he is corrupt.<\/p>\n

If he praises us, he is a good officer.<\/p>\n

If he questions us, he is a bad officer.<\/p>\n

In such an environment, even an officer’s attempt to stand only on the standards of law and justice becomes something unusual.<\/p>\n

No final judgment about Ali bin Tariq can be given on the basis of one open court.<\/p>\n

One day does not reveal an entire person’s personality.<\/p>\n

An open court is not a complete measure of an officer’s overall performance.<\/p>\n

But sometimes one day does open a window into a person’s temperament.<\/p>\n

And the scene I saw through that window was worth noting.<\/p>\n

An officer who can step down from the stage.<\/p>\n

An officer who can sit close to the public.<\/p>\n

An officer who tries to distinguish between victimhood and reality.<\/p>\n

An officer who does not make lineage a criterion for justice.<\/p>\n

An officer who decides with composure instead of emotional noise.<\/p>\n

An officer who takes action against a subordinate in an institutional manner rather than out of anger.<\/p>\n

An officer who does not give unnecessary crowds preference over the public’s right.<\/p>\n

And an officer who trusts the strength of his decision rather than trying to prove his power in front of the camera.<\/p>\n

Why does all of this feel unusual in our normal official landscape?<\/p>\n

That is the real question.<\/p>\n

Perhaps because we have made good administrative behavior so rare that when an officer simply performs the right normal duty, it begins to look extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we need officers who listen, not officers who make people applaud.<\/p>\n

We need officers who are strong in their decisions, not officers who look tough in front of cameras.<\/p>\n

We do not need an officer who considers every complainant truthful.<\/p>\n

We need an officer who takes every complaint seriously, but does not make a decision without verifying the truth.<\/p>\n

We need a police officer who uses the power of law, but does not make the law his personal power.<\/p>\n

And if an officer is moving in this direction, he should be appreciated.<\/p>\n

There are many critics.<\/p>\n

There are also many people who applaud.<\/p>\n

But acknowledging an officer’s good administrative conduct with reasoning is also part of journalism.<\/p>\n

That is why today I am writing this column not as praise, but as an acknowledgment of an observation.<\/p>\n

I saw a different police officer in an open court.<\/p>\n

Perhaps he is not perfect.<\/p>\n

Perhaps not everyone agrees with every decision he makes.<\/p>\n

Perhaps he too will face difficulties, mistakes are also possible, and the system itself has its own limitations.<\/p>\n

But if an officer tries to combine restraint with authority, justice with law, and reduce the distance between himself and the public, then that effort should not be ignored.<\/p>\n

Because police is not merely the name of a uniform.<\/p>\n

Police is the face of the state that an ordinary person sees first.<\/p>\n

If this face is angry, the state becomes fear.<\/p>\n

If this face is merely a spectator, the state becomes a joke.<\/p>\n

If this face exists only for the camera, the state becomes publicity.<\/p>\n

But if this face is calm, listening, and just, the state becomes trust.<\/p>\n

In this open court of Fateh Jang, at least for one day, I saw that very face of the state which can make an ordinary person think that perhaps his voice really can be heard.<\/p>\n

A complaint against SHO Bahtar was also presented in the same open court. DPO Ali bin Tariq did not simply ignore the matter by treating it as merely a complaint; instead, he took action and closed SHO Bahtar to the lines.<\/p>\n

This decision carried a clear message that accountability is not merely a word in speeches; it is also a responsibility that must be enforced within the institution.<\/p>\n

The decision was made, but there was no noise.<\/p>\n

Action was taken, but it was not turned into a spectacle.<\/p>\n

Action was taken against the subordinate, but there was no attempt to display his power in front of the camera.<\/p>\n

And perhaps this was the point where I understood this officer’s temperament even better.<\/p>\n

If authority is truly authority, it does not need to be displayed again and again.<\/p>\n

On the way back, the same question was again in my mind:<\/p>\n

Where did this pure man come from?<\/p>\n

Perhaps because we have become accustomed to an environment where an officer’s toughness is measured by the camera, popularity by social media, and performance by slogans.<\/p>\n

But that day, I saw a different scene.<\/p>\n

An officer who was sitting below the stage.<\/p>\n

Who was listening to the complainant.<\/p>\n

Who was distinguishing between victimhood and reality.<\/p>\n

Who was making justice rather than lineage the criterion.<\/p>\n

Who was taking action against a subordinate.<\/p>\n

And who was doing all of this without making noise about his power.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why this question kept coming to mind again and again:<\/p>\n

Where did this pure man come from?<\/p>\n

I wish such officers would not be called “different” in our system.<\/p>\n

I wish they would become the norm.<\/p>\n

I wish the light of character would be seen more than the light of cameras.<\/p>\n

I wish gaining people’s trust would be considered a greater achievement than making them applaud.<\/p>\n

And I wish one day we would no longer need to ask:<\/p>\n

“Where did this pure man come from?”<\/p>\n

Because then perhaps the pure man will not have come from somewhere.<\/p>\n

He will be a part of this very system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fateh Jang (Digital Post) Fateh Jang’s Open Court: Where Did This Pure Man Come From? I was sitting at the Islamabad Press Club. In front of me was a gathering of friends, and as usual, the conversation revolved around the politics of the city, journalism, and the new creature born between the two \u2014 social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":61066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-news","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61068"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61069,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61068\/revisions\/61069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailydigitalposts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}