Administrative decisions: Sindh to fix one-year tenure for police officers

CM claims Sindh Police paid more salaries than Punjab.

KARACHI: The Sindh government has announced a ban on the transfers and postings of senior police officers in the province for the next three months. The authorities are also considering to fix a year's tenure for senior police officers in the province.

This was announced by the Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah during a press conference at CM House on Saturday. The press conference was convened to brief the media about the arrest of two terrorists involved in the Shikarpur incident.

The CM announced the government's plans to ban the transfer and postings of police officers. The decision was made after criticism from various stakeholders who demanded to fix a time-period for police officers' postings.  In the last provincial apex committee meeting that was held to discuss the implementation of the national action plan, the chief of army staff had asked the chief minister to consult the apex committee members in matters of transfers and postings of the police officers. "No police officers will be transferred without consulting the apex committee," the meeting had decided.

The CM lauded the efforts of the law enforcement agencies in arresting the suspects involved in the Shikarpur bombing and announced a reward of Rs5 million for the police and Rangers.

Speaking about the raids and arrests, he said that the terrorists were arrested through vital information provided by suspects arrested by the police a few days ago. "Both the terrorists hail from Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan," he said.

With regards to the police salaries, the chief minister claimed that the Sindh Police salaries were higher than those in the Punjab, and the government was considering giving them an even better package.

In response to a question from the audience, the chief minister said that no zonal committees have been made in Karachi, Hyderabad or Sukkur to implement the national action plan.

The CM's recent statement contradicted the handout issued by CM House after the apex committee meeting on February 2.

After the formation of the committees, however, the Sindh government termed it an interference in the civil government's affairs, while the CM had also expressed his reservations with the prime minister on his recent visit to Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2015.