PPP accused of violating Police Act over IGP issue

Reiterating their objections over the issue of the Sindh police chief’s removal, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) have accused the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) provincial government of violating the Sindh Police Act 2019.

The PTI and the GDA said the Sindh (Repeal of the Police Act 1861 & Revival of the Police Order 2002) (Amendment) Act 2019 clearly guarantees a three-year tenure for the inspector general of police (IGP), which in case of the incumbent, Dr Syed Kaleem Imam, ends in September 2021.

Haleem Adil Sheikh, the PTI’s parliamentary party leader in the provincial assembly, told a news conference outside the PA on Wednesday that Sindh’s ministers insist that the federal government appoint an IGP from among the three names the provincial administration has suggested to the Centre.

“Then why did the PPP’s provincial government change 12 IGPs since 2008?” asked Sheikh. He said the tenure of an IGP lasts three years, but in Sindh the police chief is changed within months. The lawmaker, who is also the PTI’s central vice-president, said that under Section 11 of the Police Rules 2019, the federal government will suggest three names for posting the IGP. He advised the PPP’s Saeed Ghani and Murtaza Wahab to read the Police Order 2019 formulated by their party.

“If the Sindh government had not politicised the matter of the IGP, today things would not have reached to this extent,” he said. He added that IGPs were also transferred in the other provinces, but nobody there held a news conference.

Instead of politicising the matter, the provincial government should have opted for official correspondence for this issue to have been resolved easily, said Sheikh. “Unfortunately, instead of opting for the due process, Sindh’s ministers approached the media to malign the IGP.”

He said the federal government has a cabinet that is working in accordance with the law. “The prime minister put the matter of the IGP’s transfer before the cabinet, which refused to transfer the police chief, so now the legal and proper way will be adopted in this regard.”

Sheikh said that it is the right of the Sindh government to get the IGP transferred, but their ways and means are wrong. “The chief of a police force cannot be removed by maligning him. How can an IGP be changed who is not facing any criminal charges?”

He claimed that Sindh’s rulers transfer officers who refuse to be yes-men, mentioning the case of Shikarpur SSP Dr Rizwan, who was removed after releasing a report against a minister.

The GDA, which is believed to have persuaded PM Imran Khan in the federal cabinet to stop the IGP’s transfer, claimed that the Sindh government wants to replace the IGP with its blue-eyed boy who would serve the interests of the leaders of the ruling PPP instead of serving the people of the province.

GDA General Secretary Ayaz Latif Palejo said they want such a police officer to head Sindh’s law enforcement agency who would not obey only the orders of the PM or the chief minister.

“The GDA wants an IGP who would follow the constitution and serve the people without bowing to pressure from any political party,” said Palejo, who also heads the Qaumi Awami Tehreek.

He clarified that the GDA had not recommended any name for the post of the IGP. He also made it clear that the alliance has no issue with the appointment of a non-Sindh police chief in the province.

“Sindhi-speaking officers Sanaullah Abbasi and AD Khawaja have been heading the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police and the Motorway Police, while another Sindhi officer Bashir Memon had served in the Azad Jammu & Kashmir.”