Sukkur DIG accuses SSP of conniving with katcha dacoits

DIG Sukkur Range Syed Pir Muhammad Shah has blamed his subordinate SSP Ghotki district Hafeez-ur-Rehman Bugti for conniving with bandits endorsing local people's longstanding claim that some police officers are hands in glove with the dacoits of the riverbed areas in Sukkur and Larkana divisions.

Similar accusations have also been made against the SSP by an arrested SHO of one of the most restive police stations, Raunti in Ghotki. "He [Bugti] is treading a dangerous and unprofessional path by engaging with and by attempting to persuade notorious criminals who have been involved in multiple heinous activities, including the killing of police officers, kidnapping for ransom, and looting police weapons," DIG Shah stated in a letter addressed to IGP Sindh on October 16.

"His engagement with these criminal elements undermines the efforts of the law enforcement and jeopardises safety of both police and citizens of the region," he further stated. The controversy sparked after an alleged assault on former MPA Shaharyar Shar in a riverine area in the limits of Raunti police station some days ago.

Two associates of Shar, Ali Muhammad Shar and Umar Shar, were killed in the attack but the ex-MPA remained unscathed. One of the dead men was a wanted dacoit. Mumtaz Ali Shar, brother of Ali Muhammad, lodged an FIR on Monday nominating around one and a half dozen persons, including SHO Raunti police station Shakoor Lakho. On the directives of SSP Ghotki, Lakho was arrested on Oct 16 and on Wednesday he was presented before an anti-terrorism court which granted his seven-day physical remand to police.

Tacitly referring to the SSP's action against the SHO in apparent support of the dead men, the DIG wrote that the police officers, especially the rank and file of Ghotki police, are struggling to accept that the same criminals responsible for killing their fellow officers are now being treated favourably by police. He recalled that six cops were martyred by those "very barbaric outlaws" this year.

"The fact that the police appear to be yielding to these criminals' demands is sending troubling signals, and the morale of the force is steadily eroding," DIG Shah stated. He called for a swift action on the matter in question to preserve integrity of the police force and to prevent other cops from engaging in activities that undermine the rule of law, tarnish the department's reputation, or dishonour memories of the martyred cops.

The DIG emphasised that the questionable relation of the SSP with the bandits should not be mistaken as some efforts towards reconciliation of the tribal disputes because the tribes which nurture vendettas also have armed men.