73 suspended plainclothes cops to serve in anti-riots force

Seventy-three policemen at Karachi’s 43 police stations who were suspended for being part of special police parties and performing duties in plainclothes will now serve in the anti-riot reserve force.

“All the police personnel of different police stations of the Karachi range who were placed under suspension and closed to the Special Security Unit (SSU), Karachi, are now closed to the police headquarters, Garden, South Zone, Karachi, for the anti-riot reserve.

They will practise in reserve daily till further orders. They should be relieved and their resumption should be assured,” read a notification issued by acting Additional Inspector General of Police Karachi Range Ghulam Nabi Memon on Tuesday.

The cops will be given training at the police headquarters, Garden, to deal with protesters. The policemen from 43 police stations were suspended for being part of special police parties and performing duties in plainclothes a few days ago.

The suspended cops -- three sub-inspectors, nine assistant sub-inspectors, 15 head constables and 46 constables – were then ordered to report to the SSU. The suspension orders came after acting additional IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon directed the senior superintendents of police, who are the police chiefs of their respective districts, to ban special police parties and personnel in plainclothes and also remove station house officers (SHOs) with a bad record.

The decision to ban police personnel in plainclothes was taken in the aftermath of the recent killing of a young student, Arsalan Mehsud, in a fake encounter in Orangi Town. The Karachi police chief had asked all the district SSPs to submit certificates that no special party or plainclothes personnel were operating in their districts. According to the order, the SSPs should also remove all SHOs having a bad character from police stations.