Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday that although the police are under the administrative control of the provincial government, some changes made in the relevant law have upset this control.
He made this statement while talking to the media at the Liaquat National Hospital (LNH), where he asked after nine-month-old Nishwa who has been paralysed due to alleged wrong administration of a drug, and in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, where he gave his condolences to Kashif Shaikh for his 19-month-old son Ahsan’s death during an alleged shootout between police and robbers.
He said that some “insertions and deletions” made in the law have disturbed the Sindh government’s entire administrative control on the police. Whenever the government suggests any administrative change for better policing, someone raises a hue and cry and terms it “political interference”, he added.
“Yes, it is political interference, because we have been elected to power politically,” he said, adding that political governments take political decisions in the interest of the people. “So, what is wrong about that?”
The chief executive said that though the police are independent, they must make decisions after consulting with the government, and so these decisions will be better for policing. He admitted that the independence of the police does not mean that they have “a licence to kill innocent people”. “The basic job of the police is to protect the lives, properties and liberties of the people, but what is happening here seems to be disappointing.”
He said that the worst law and order situation in Karachi was righted by the police, the Rangers and the army because political guidance and the will of the government were behind them and their actions.
“Now the same police have caused around seven accidents in which five innocent lives have been lost. This is because political guidance and consultations have been set aside in the recent decisions.”
Talking about Tuesday’s incident, Shah said that a couple was buying groceries from a store when patrolling policemen opened fire on robbers without caring about the people in the vicinity.
“This is the professionalism and the responsibility they [the policemen] demonstrated there, and within a blink of an eye they vacated the lap of a mother who had lots of hopes and dreams for her 19-month-old son.”
Nishwa
The chief executive also met with Nishwa’s doctor at the LNH and told him to make all-out efforts to save her life. He told the girl’s father Qaiser Ali that the provincial government will bear all the treatment expenses whether it is done in Pakistan or abroad.
Shah told the media that Ali has voiced his grievances against “quackery” and the “unprofessional doctors who are playing with the lives of innocent people”. “We have enacted the law of Healthcare Commission and will improve it further by removing the shortcomings so that appropriate action can be taken against the private health facilities that are playing with their patients’ lives.”
He also deplored the fact that the area SSP is threatening Ali and his family over filing a police complaint against the hospital. “I was expecting strict action from the independent police against the delinquent SSP but all of it was limited to TV tickers and an eye wash.”
Shah said he is yet to receive reports on Ahsan and Nishwa by the police and “now I have directed the police to send me detailed reports along with the actions taken so far”.
Talking about Article 149 of the constitution for which the provincial government is being threatened, the CM said that there is no mention of the “federal government’s interference” in the article they are quoting. He advised the prime minister to snub the ministers who are misguiding him.
He added that the article in question only deals with guidelines to be issued by the federal government in the matter of law and order and governance. “Sindh is being governed better than any other province and the law and order situation here is the best,” he said, added that they cannot issue him with guidelines.
He said the federal government should focus on its performance, as it is facing the worst revenue recoveries in the history of the country. In his concluding remarks, he said he will not allow anybody to interfere in the provincial government’s affairs.