Dissent: Villagers fight to keep effective top cop

Ghotki's residents claim that DPO Pir Mohammad Shah took on crime in the area by running operations against thugs.

GHOTKI:

Usually people in the villages protest against the police, who they claim are corrupt and lazy. But in Ghotki, the converse is true; people here have gone on strike because they don't want their DPO transferred out. The rural residents claim that Pir Muhammad Shah was doing a good job and had reduced crime.

"As much as I would like to keep the DPO in Ghotki, his services are needed in Sukkur," explained MPA Sardar Ahmed Ali Pitafi. "Yesterday, I witnessed the largest-ever protest in Mirpur Mathelo. It is very rare to see such things in Ghotki, especially against the transfer of a DPO."

Most of the gangs of hardened criminals were based in these areas and neither residents nor the police ever dared to go there. Many times when the police and villagers used to take chase by following the footprints of the criminals they would be forced to stop when the no-go areas started.

According to sources, when it was suggested that Pitafi used his political clout to cancel the transfer, he responded, "I can do so but Federal Minister for Labour Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah wants Shah as DPO Sukkur and he is much more powerful than me."

All businesses were shut during the strike held on Tuesday and  traffic moving between Sindh and Punjab was suspended for four hours.

According to journalists based in Ghotki, Shah kept the district very safe. Areas such as Sohanjhro, Wasti Jewan Shah and Pir Bari, had become a no-go zones due to the high crime rate. Even the police didn't go to these places but when Shah was instated as the DPO, he conducted operations in the district to bring the situation under control, they said.

They speculated that elected representatives from the district are responsible for the transfer because they often shelter criminals themselves. Shah took action against criminals irrespective of their clan affiliation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2011.