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‘Sindh’s law and order situation worsened on Khowaja’s watch’

By News Desk
May 26, 2017

Home Minister Siyal claims province’s security

situation is still better than that of other provinces

The recently reappointed Sindh home minister has claimed that the law and order situation of the province was better before AD Khowaja was made the police chief, reported Geo News on Thursday.

“However, the security situation of Sindh is better than that of the other provinces of the country,” Suhail Anwar Khan Siyal told the media after meeting with senior police officials.

IGP Khowaja’s absence from the meeting has fuelled the speculation that there might be some differences between the home minister and the provincial police chief.

When Siyal was asked why the IGP was not invited to the meeting, he said he had divided the conference into two, adding that the police chief would be present in the next meeting, which was scheduled for the evening.

Earlier media reports claimed that Khowaja had forbidden police officials from attending the meeting with the home minister without his explicit permission, but the police chief clarified in a statement that no officer was issued such an order.

Released by the spokesperson for the Sindh police, the statement quoted the IGP as saying that some elements were trying to spread misinformation. He explained that officials leaving their designated headquarters must inform their relevant departments as part of the official procedure.

On Tuesday the Sindh government reshuffled the portfolios of the provincial cabinet, returning the home ministry to Siyal, a close aide of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s top leadership.

The party leader from Larkana was first appointed as the home minister in May 2015, but he lost the ministry in July 2016 following “reservations” of the security agencies.

A rift was created when the Rangers attempted to arrest a close aide of the minister, Asad Kharal, from Larkana, but the locals foiled the paramilitary force’s efforts and helped Kharal escape.

The incident led to a public row between the provincial administration and the Rangers, forcing the then chief minister to relieve Siyal of his post of home minister.

This March the Sindh government surrendered the IGP’s services to the federal administration, but the move was blocked after rights activists petitioned for Khowaja in the Sindh High Court (SHC).

On May 17, IGP Khowaja had requested the SHC to vacate its interim order about his transfer because he had decided to voluntarily step down in the interest of the police and public order.

The court was hearing the petition of Karamat Ali and other rights activists and NGOs against the repeal of the Police Order 2002, purportedly through the Sindh (Repeal of the Police Order 2002 & Revival of the Police Act 1861) Act 2011, lack of implementation of the Police Order 2002 and the “illegal” action of the Sindh government with regard to the transfer of provincial police chief Khowaja.

Filing his comments on the petition, Khowaja said the uncertainty over the IGP’s appointment was increasingly telling on the morale and efficiency of the police, as the ranks and officers were showing the strains of having to adjust with his episodic removal and reinstatement in the highly challenging times when the country was waging wars against multiple threats emanating from internal and external sources.

He said the ongoing controversy with regard to his appointment could be brought to an end so that a full-time police chief could restore the flagging morale of the force and strengthen the public’s confidence in the department.

He added that in the absence of the provincial government’s support, operational difficulties arose for him, as on the one hand, he had to ensure public security and discipline among the ranks, and on the other hand, he had to overcome the mounting extraneous pressures.

He requested the court to allow him to approach the federal government to recall his services from Sindh so that the competent authorities could resolve the issue of the provincial police chief’s appointment.

The advocate general contended that the issues of the police and the armed forces could not be decided by the court in writ jurisdiction. He said the police department was a provincial subject so the Sindh government was empowered to appoint the police chief.

He added that during former president Pervez Musharraf’s rule, various ordinances were promulgated in violation of the law and the constitution through bypassing provincial autonomy. He requested the court to vacate the interim stay order and dismiss the petition as non-maintainable.