The fight for Sindh police

The government of Sindh has fought tooth and nail to ensure that there is no truly independent police force staffed and led by officers and men who are free of political taint or corruption. The battle has been long and bitter, and the latest twist is that the Sindh government has now drafted a law which allows it to take power over transfers and postings out of the hands of the Inspector General (IG) and into the hands of the government and the bureaucracy. Further, the Police Act of 2018 gives the government the authority to “manage, direct, review and oversee the administration and financial affairs of the Sindh police”. This amounts to a blank cheque for the government, and effectively neuters the IG rendering him a virtual irrelevance in matters of control and authority.

Such vestiges of authority that remain with the IG are subject to the home department ratification which will have the authority to make decisions on the postings of senior police officers. This is contrary to the decision of the Sindh High Court that had asked the government to give administrative and financial powers to the IG as well as the capacity to post senior officers. The law, as seen by this newspaper, is the complete opposite of what the SHC had ruled must be the case, and the government has sidelined the SHC in much the same way as it has consistently attempted to sideline and nullify the IG.

There is no other reason for any of this other than the desire of the ruling party in Sindh to have control of who does and does not sit at the top of the police force. There are aspects of the new law that are acceptable, and make practical sense, but at its heart is the erosion of command and independence of the operation of the police. Power has been vested in politicians and bureaucrats rather than in oversight by independent bodies and democratic institutions as well as civil society. Pity the rule of law.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2018.

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