Musical chairs: More of the same as both top cops changed

IG Wajid Ali Durrani replaced by traffic chief, CCPO Saud Mirza to report to Islamabad.

KARACHI:

Since this government has come to power, it has swapped, rearranged, and fitted and fixed its two top police officers half a dozen times. On Friday, in yet another reshuffling, the music stopped for Karachi police chief Saud Mirza. He was removed and asked to report to Islamabad. Sindh police chief Wajid Ali Durrani was luckier - his seat may have been taken, but he was offered another one: head of the Intelligence Bureau.

Durrani was expecting this much, but Saud Mirza’s marching orders were relatively unexpected unless of course the fight with Home Minister Manzoor Wassan is factored in. In a meeting two weeks ago, they sparred over the postings of SHOs, the men who have the important job of running police stations. After being accused of accepting bribes, Saud Mirza is said to have reacted badly by requesting a transfer. The allegation would not have sat well because as an officer, he is known to have a spotless reputation.

There appeared to be some relief with the development for Mirza who has been running Karachi’s police for seven months. “I am very happy. I am very glad,” he told The Express Tribune on Friday. “I worked with sincerity, honesty and transparency against terrorism and criminals in the city.” He didn’t object to the government’s decision and said he actually agreed with it.

News of this change didn’t sit well in principle with former Sindh police chief Afzal Shigri. He clarified what the working relationship should be between a city police chief and home minister. “Why is the home minister interacting with the lower-ranking officers, including the city police chief, in the first place?” he asked. “His relationship needs to be with the head of police in the province [IGP] and the only interaction with the [CCPO] would be at meetings, etc.”

As for Saud Mirza’s replacement, the name that surfaced was Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh, an additional inspector general for the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). But this would only be made official once a notification is issued.

Sheikh is currently working as CID Additional IG. He has run Quetta’s police as well. Elsewhere, he has held the posts of AIG Establishment, DIG Headquarters, SSP for Hyderabad, Sukkur and Khairpur and also various departments at the Central Police Office. But he has no experience of working with the operational police at any district or zone in Karachi.

Sheikh is a grade 20 officer but a promotion is expected as he recently completed a course for grade 21 at Staff College, Lahore. Sheikh told The Express Tribune that he had heard the news but he did not receive an official notification. “I’ve never approached anyone for any post,” he said. “I hope for the better. Whatever would be good for the people of Karachi.”

Therein lies the crux of the matter. The good of the people of Karachi. And indeed, Karachi’s police has been under pressure from the Supreme Court to clean the city up. But is the well-established practice of dismissing and replacing officers good for the city and the force? “It sets a very bad example for [the force] to see the highest-ranking officers being dismissed this way,” commented former IG Shigri. According to the Police Order 2002, police officers are to be appointed in a transparent manner and their tenure was for at least three years. “What has happened here - as we can see with Saud Mirza’s removal - is a complete violation of administrative norms.”

Shigri went on to say, “Officers have no time to settle down, to understand the day-to-day policing, welfare or to plan for development and resources. By the time they have started to understand, they are given marching orders.”

He also highlighted that police officers are only appointed to the inspector-general posts when they are about to retire. “This is a very demanding job! They need to appoint younger officers who have at least four to five years left,” he argued. “The officer is usually winding up his career and then he can give nothing to the force.”

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Wajid Ali Durrani will be replaced by Mushtaq Shah, who will run the province’s police now. This change was expected as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Javed Noor retired at the start of October.

Durrani, who also considered a confidante of President Asif Ali Zardari, was one of the main men nominated by Ghinwa Bhutto in the murder of her husband Mir Murtaza Bhutto near his Clifton residence in September 1996.

It has been a short stint for Durrani as well, who became IGP on June 17 and was transferred here from the post of IGP Islamabad. This change was made after Sindh’s then IGP Fayyaz Leghari was removed on the orders of the Supreme Court in the Sarfaraz Shah extrajudicial killing case.

Durrani’s replacement, Mushtaq Shah, was recently promoted to grade 21, the second highest. Presently, he is working as Additional IG of Traffic. He is well versed in the affairs of Karachi and the province as he has served as DIG Operations, Karachi, IG Prisons, Regional Police Officer Sukkur and CID Additional IG.

This development was observed by members of the standing committee on the home department of the Sindh Assembly. These elected representatives had just prepared an exhaustive report against political appointments. “We’ve always suggested at every forum [they] give up this practice and appoint competent officers for a fixed tenure,” said member  MPA Abdul Moid.

This was seconded by MPA Kareem Soomro of the ruling party, who said in most of the cases these officers even don’t get enough time to understand the system before they are suddenly transferred. “ I request the higher authorities to ban frequent transfers and postings and let these officers work... otherwise change cannot take place.” MPA Rehan Zafar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was also disappointed. “How can one expect good results from an officer who has been appointed on the recommendation of a specific group, party or person?”

Even though the musical chairs of high-ranking police officers has continued during the current PPP-led government’s tenure, this wasn’t always the case when the party was in power. “During Benazir Bhutto’s tenure, she would rarely interfere with the police,” former IG Shigri recalled. “Even though there were some issues that came up, I served as IG Sindh for almost 20 months. We could operate independently.”

with additional reporting by saba imtiaz and hafeez tunio

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2011.