Sindh governor rejects police reform law

Says the clauses are inconsistent with the SHC and SC rulings and are intended to render the IGP powerless

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has returned the Sindh (Repeal of the Police Act 1861 and Revival of the Police Order 2000) Amendment Bill 2019 to the Sindh Assembly for reconsideration.  The bill was passed amid protests by the opposition parties on May 18, earlier this month.

"It is appreciated that the Sindh government intends to change the 158-year-old Police Act with the objective to initiate reforms in the police department, hereby ensuring an independent, accountable and autonomous police without any political influence or interference in its affairs," said the governor in its objection note. "However the proposed bill is not achieving those goals and objectives." The governor noted that the Sindh Assembly has passed a bill, which is in fact, not a revival of the Police Order 2002, but is outright inconsistent with the original Police Order 2002.

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In his observations, the governor referred to the Supreme Court's judgment to empower the provincial police chief and said the bill seeks to revive the Police Order 2002 as it stood on July 13, 2011, but it is not the one which existed in 2011.

"It would be appropriate to mention here that the laws related to the police have been a contested issue in the province and have also remained a subject of litigation in the Sindh High Court and subsequently, the Supreme Court," Governor Ismail observed.

He went on to say that the upper courts have laid down certain principles and parameters on the issue of operational autonomy of the police  department, the procedure of posting of the IGP and security of his tenure, transfer and posting authority in the police department and framing of rules for tenure and postings of police officers. "The province of Sindh shall be entitled to make a new law conforming to the modern needs and also keeping in view the observations made in the impugned judgment."

Quoting Para 9 of the Supreme Court's judgment, the governor said, "Transfers and postings on all senior cadre posts shall be made by the IGP."

Expressing concern over the inconsistencies in the bill, the governor said that the provincial assembly was competent to make laws, but they should not be inconsistent with the principles settled in the courts' judgment.

Referring to sub-section ( 3) of Section 11 of the law, governor said that the procedure for removal of IGP has been given, which again is inconsistent with the SHC's judgment that gave him a fixed three-year tenure and ruled against any arbitrary removal of the IGP, without compelling grounds. "This provision requires to be reconsidered to avoid inconsistency with the judgment," the governor opined.

Regarding transfer and posting of deputy superintendents of police, the governor said that the powers have not been given to the IGP and Section 22 of the original Police Order has been deleted.  "This indicates that the intention of the bill is not to empower the inspector general, but to render him powerless," observed the governor. "Interestingly, the entire exercise of enacting the law emanated from the development in the wake of the judgment of the high court and the Supreme Court, but the bill ironically seeks to undo the positive developments."

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To be passed anyway

The Police reform law has been a highly contentious issue for the past several months, with the Pakistan Peoples Party government claiming to introduce reforms for greater accountability, while the opposition has been crying foul over what it says are measures to diminish the IGP's authority.

According to an official in the Sindh Assembly, they have received the governor's observations on the bill and will present it in the upcoming session of the assembly. "After the 18th Amendment, the assembly is entitled to reconsider the bill and will send it again to the governor for assent. The bill will be turned into an Act within 10 days thereafter, whether or not the governor gives his assent," said the official, who is associated with the law department. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2019.