According to media reports, the Sindh chief minister on Monday summoned the Sindh IG and informed him, in presence of the Sindh Chief Secretary, about the transfer and postings of police officers on key positions, including Karachi police chief and Hyderabad AIG. The IG is reported to have protested over the decision and the manner in which this was being done, but the chief minister allegedly told him that the ‘consultation’ as mandated under the new law has been completed and asked the chief secretary to issue a notification implementing his orders.
The new police law is a strange, rather a bad piece of law. It was following the judgments of the Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the Sindh government was compelled to introduce a new police law. The superior judiciary in successive rulings had given certain guidelines to ensure administrative and functional autonomy for the police department. But the new law the PPP government introduced not only seemed to be in violation of the orders of superior judiciary but once again empowers the ruling clique to enjoy administrative control especially in respect of transfer and postings over the police force.
The chief minister’s action on Monday therefore is the beginning of the PPP leadership’s initiative to once again control the affairs of the police department, but it may lead to another phase of confrontation as the judicial rulings continue to hold the ground.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2019.
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