Restrictions: Sindh govt silences media savvy police

Move follows recent controversial press conference of SSP Rao Anwar

KARACHI: Sindh government has issued orders restricting police officials from holding press conferences and disclosing the political affiliations of arrested suspects before the media, way before the start of legal proceedings against the accused.

A senior police official said that the decision was taken following recent controversial press conference of former SSP Rao Anwar in which he claimed that the two persons he had arrested were members of MQM and had links with Indian spy agency RAW.

The Sindh government has allowed only the district, city and provincial police chiefs to address the media, a senior police official told The Express Tribune.

Officers ranking from SP to SHO are not allowed to hold press conferences, he said. “Only SSPs and zonal DIGs, city police chiefs and the IG are allowed to hold press conferences,” he said, adding that SSPs would need permission from the DIGs concerned before holding a media briefing to disclose the political affiliations of the suspects arrested in any criminal activity.

Since the start of the Karachi operation, police officers have paraded workers of different political parties, particularly MQM, before the media, claiming their involvement in various crimes.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2015.