Murder accused appointed PSO to CM Sindh

KARACHI: A police officer accused of many criminal cases including murder has been appointed as personal staff officer (PSO) of Sindh Chief Minister.

SSP Farukh Bashir was indicted in a murder case of a political worker of Sindh United Party (SUP) Akhtar Shah in 2009 at Jamshoro Police Station when he was Police Chief of the district. He is also accused of kidnapping of Malik Changaiz Khan, vice president of Muslim League-N Sindh chapter.

Police Rules1934 say, “A police officer charged with a criminal offence shall be placed under suspension from the date on which he is sent for trial." Sindh Chief Minister House Spokesman told ‘The News’ murder and other criminal cases are pending in courts as SSP Farukh Bashir has not been proved guilty in any case. Let the courts decide and then action will be taken accordingly, he said.

Inspector General Sindh Police AD Khuwaja told The News that police rules about suspension deal with officers of police from constable to inspector level and all upper ranked officers fall in the Civil Servants Act. 

Low rank police officials involved in that murder case got promotions and are still having major positions in Jamshoro. Main accused Nazar Muhammad Deshak is now station house officer (SHO) of Kotri police in district Jashoro.

When his attention was drawn to this point, the IG said, “Supreme Court could interpret any law and these police rules purely deal with upper and lower subordinate and some officers were removed by government.”

“In past, many officers involved in many high profile murder and other cases enjoyed major positions in police and very recently Sindh High Court has declared that mere allegations and registration of cases do not hold or bar promotions of police officers,” concluded IGP Khuwaja.

PSO to Chief Minister Farukh Bashir talking to ‘The News’ endorsed view of the IGP and added that all cases against him are false and investigation officer of the murder case has declared him innocent and the matter is pending before the court.

He claimed that a Supreme Court order is a clean chit for him but this reporter failed to find no specific para regarding him or any relief for SSP Bashir.

Prominent Constitutional expert, former Judge of Sindh High court and President of Supreme Court Bar Association Jus (r) Rasheed A Rizvi said apart from rules, a person who is under accusation of heinous crimes should not be posted in chief executive office on an important position.

Constitutional expert and general secretary of Karachi Bar Association Advocate Haq Nawaz Talpur told this reporter that this police rule was further interoperated by Supreme Court in ‘Karachi law and order case’. Supreme Court in its decision clearly had declared that all police officers and officials involved in any kind of criminal cases could not hold any field post and should remained under suspension till decisions of cases against them.

He added that in the light of police rules and interpretation of Supreme Court order, posting of Farukh Bashir as PSO to chief minister is illegal and unconstitutional.

Lawyer and advocate of complainant Mir Muhammad Mangrio said all persons involved in the murder case are still enjoying the same positions and almost all of them are SHOs at the same police stations where they were at the time of the murder and the prime accused has been elevated as PSO to chief minister. These officers could use their positions to affect the case proceedings, he said.