Khowaja-Siyal feud is impeding crime-solving in Sindh

IGP and home minister seem more interested in staying current in the media as police officials find themselves in a double bind

No issue seems to go unnoticed since an undeclared war erupted between the Sindh government and provincial police chief IGP AD Khowaja, but an investigation by The News has found that majority of the cases remain unsolved.

The situation was aggravated when Suhail Anwar Khan Siyal recently resumed the post of home minister and summoned Sindh’s police officers, except Khowaja, for an introductory meeting at the Karachi Police Office.

Following his reappointment, Siyal has been taking notice of various issues, but like the IGP, the home minister also failed to take majority of the cases to their logical ends. It seems that the two men are more interested in staying current in the media.

While following up on the cases brought to light after Khowaja and Siyal took action on them, The News talked to the public relations officers (PROs) of both the men, but the spokespersons failed to provide updates on majority of the incidents.

When the IGP’s PRO Sohail Jokhio was asked to comment on the reports of the cases of which his boss had taken notice, the spokesperson was speechless.

To defend the police chief, Jokhio said that all the police officers found to be involved in illegal activities were immediately suspended, but the PRO failed to share the details of the officials suspended in the cases of which his boss had taken notice.

The News mentioned a number of incidents of which the IGP had taken notice, but the PRO could not provide any update on their progress, including the gang rape case.

On May 8 the father of a 12-year-old girl filed a complaint at Kandhkot’s A-Section police station claiming that the minor was gang raped by her employer and others at a bungalow in Karachi’s Malir Cantonment.

IGP Khowaja took notice of the case and directed Kashmore SSP Dr Samiullah Soomro to bring the investigation to a logical end by arresting the accused.

On May 11 Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar ordered Khowaja to submit a detailed report on the case in the Supreme Court within a week.

However, on May 28 the case was settled by Sardar Taj Muhammad Domki, a feudal lord and senior politician, who decided that the main accused would pay Rs1.8 million to the girl’s father.

Domki was arrested on the police chief’s orders on May 29, but the investigation could not move further even after the arrest of two persons on May 8, while the main accused identified as Rahib Sorhiani is still at large.

Similar to Khowaja’s PRO, Siyal’s spokesperson Muizzuddin Peerzada also failed to update The News on cases of which the home minister had taken notice after his reappointment.

Peerzada, who was removed from his post of the IGP’s PRO when Khowaja had assumed office, angrily accused The News of trying to slander the home minister.

Confused journalists

The Khowaja-Siyal feud has confused journalists reporting on incidents of crime across the province because the PROs of the police chief and the home minister have been issuing the same statements but separately.

Last week Khowaja’s PRO informed the media at 9:23am that law enforcers of the province had been directed to ensure strict security at mosques and imambargahs during the Friday prayers. Siyal’s PRO issued the same statement at 11:38am.

Similarly, soon after the police chief’s PRO informed the media that the IGP had taken notice of the Umerkot sanitary worker’s death, the home minister’s PRO issued a statement that his boss had taken notice of the incident and sought an inquiry report.

In a double bind

The Sindh police’s operation and investigation departments find themselves in a double bind because of their two bosses. However, the police officers have devised a strategy “to keep both the bosses happy” to protect their jobs.

When Umerkot SSP Usman Bajwa was contacted, he said he was asked to submit a report on the sanitary worker’s death by both the police chief and the home minister, adding that he would comply with the orders by dispatching his report to both of them.

The News tried talking to many officers of the police department to find their views on the working conditions amid the presence of two bosses, but they remained tight-lipped.

All of them, however, believed that something was about to happen to bring the so-called war between Khowaja and Siyal to an end, but they did not elaborate on the subject.