Fight over land: SSP’s transfer leads to protests in Khairpur

SSP Aftab's team members, Khairpur SPs also boycott duties

SUKKUR: The transfer of Khairpur SSP Nasir Aftab has angered the residents and traders, who resorted to a complete shutter-down strike and blockades on the National Highway.

The Sindh government issued on Tuesday orders to transfer a few police officers, including SSP Aftab, from Khairpur to the Anti-Violence Crime Cell (AVCC) in Karachi. As soon as the notification was publicised, a large number of traders and residents took to the streets and blocked roads, suspending highway traffic between Punjab and Karachi.



The sit-ins on National Highway ended at around 3am, when the traffic was allowed to pass. Soon after sunrise on Wednesday, the blockades resumed at Thehri, Babarloi, Shah Hussain, Gambat and other bypasses.

Meanwhile, the date market traders in Khairpur held a protest rally and sit-in at Punj Gulla Chowk for nearly three hours. Led by their president Haji Muhammad Bashir Arain, they shouted slogans against the Sindh government and in favour of SSP Aftab. Before SSP Aftab's posting to Khairpur, the law and order situation in the district was very bad and kidnapping for ransom, highway robberies and other crimes were rampant, Arain pointed out. "The officer took drastic action against criminals and managed to bring crime rates in the district down to zero," he claimed.

Arain was of the opinion that the government cannot tolerate officers who work on diligently. "The transfer of SSP Aftab is a signal to the criminals to come out of their hidings and start looting people, which is highly condemnable," he said.

Reason for transfer

According to a high-ranking police officer, a dispute over encroached land is the main reason behind the SSP's transfer. "We had earmarked 25 acres near Shah Abdul Latif University for martyred policemen but the land was occupied by an influential politician of Khairpur," the officer claimed. "Since the SSP wanted that land evacuated and the politician was reluctant to let go, it eventually led to his transfer away from Khairpur."

United we stand

As a result of this protest, several police officers have vowed to stay away from duties until his transfer orders are withdrawn.

Both SPs of Khairpur district, Sajjid Khokhar and Masood Bangash, and all the 43 SHOs have stopped working as a token of protest. SP Khokhar told The Express Tribune that the transfer of the SSP has demoralised his team. "It means that working on merit has become a crime," he said. "We were working as a team and have brought crime rate to zero," he pointed out, before demanding a withdrawal of the transfer orders.

Khairpur's A-Section police station SHO Amir Khan, who is popularly known as Chulbul Panday, also expressed his disappointment. "I, along with other SHOs, have left the charge and will not work until the cancellation of transfer orders."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2015.