AIG seeks list of police officials with patchy records

SSPs, DIGs of various divisions directed to prepare list

KARACHI: Since assuming office on July 16 as Karachi Police chief, Additional Inspector-General of Police (AIGP) Ghulam Nabi Memon issued his first major orders, directing the police chiefs of all zones and special wings to prepare a list of police officials with patchy records. Muhafiz Force, Forensic, Court Police and Security SSPs were also directed to prepare the list.

However, taking action against such officials is likely to be a challenge for the police department. In 2015, a similar list was prepared and investigations were carried out against police officers with a bad reputation. More than 2,000 officials were found to be involved in crimes but not only does that information remain confined to the police department, some of those officers are also now posted as SHOs of different police stations.

The investigations in 2015 had been restricted to officials ranking from constable to inspector. Several of the police officials had a criminal record and they had not only been suspended many times but some of them had also been dismissed from service. Yet, they were able to re-enter the police department through links with various influential persons.

Investigation reports had revealed that most of the infamous officials were involved in fake encounters, kidnapping cases, encroachment of land, illegal water hydrants, offering protection to illicit activities, collecting money from betting and gambling dens, sand gravel businesses, while also being responsible for flawed investigations, registration of fake cases at the behest of someone and illegal detention of citizens.

There were nearly 1,007 police officials from Karachi who were investigated while 1,030 of the infamous officials under investigation were from rural Sindh. These officials included female police officers as well. Besides, 110 of the officials on the list were from the Counter-Terrorism Department.

Most of these officials had been dismissed from service but managed to join the service again. It remains to be seen whether AIG Memon's efforts now will bear fruit.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2019.