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Friday March 29, 2024

Khowaja accuses govt of paralysing police dept

By Salis bin Perwaiz
July 24, 2017

KARACHI: Sindh’s top cop has written to the chief minister to raise his concerns over “intervention” in the affairs of the provincial law enforcement agency (LEA).

IGP AD Khowaja pointed out in his letter that a number of administrative orders were issued by the home and services general administration & coordination departments in the past month that undermined his administrative control over the police officers, including the power to grant casual leave to his subordinates.

Khowaja claimed that a number of staff officers serving at the Central Police Office (CPO) were called in by the home department and unnecessarily pressurised, adding that the situation was leading to weak command and control over subordinates.

He complained that his input was not sought before the recent announcement of a massive reshuffling of senior police officers, saying that even the important staff officers of his core team were transferred without any justification.

“In most of the cases, officers were transferred without completing reasonable tenures and on grounds other than administrative exigency, which has led to the complete breakdown of the daily routine work at the CPO and has paralysed the police as an organisation.”

He lamented that the recommendations sent by his office regarding postings and transfers as well as disciplinary proceedings against certain guilty officers were being consistently ignored and, thereby, encouraging misconduct.

He drew CM Syed Murad Ali Shah’s attention towards the last apex committee meeting, which had decided to empower the police chief for effective command and control over his subordinates. “Unfortunately, the subsequent orders that were issued completely negate that decision.”

Khowaja clarified that even under the existing Police Act 1861, the Sindh police chief had administrative control over the LEA of the province, saying that as the inspector general of police, it was his responsibility to highlight the issues so the CM could intervene to save the agency from drifting into “complete maladministration”.

Police Act

The Police Act 1861 has been criticised time and again by senior police officers and other stakeholders. The provincial government has now decided to revise the law as the Sindh Police Act 2017 in view of the requirements of the 21st century.

Several meetings have already been conducted to discuss the new law, the most recent of which was convened a few days ago. The meeting was attended by the home minister, the advocate general, the law secretary, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Sindh chief Addl IGP Sanaullah Abbasi, DIG Azad Khan of the South Range and Forensic Division Sindh chief Javed Akber Riaz.

The meeting finalised the draft of the new police act that stated that the Sindh Police was one of the largest departments of the provincial government, with the strength of almost 140,000 officers, including 20 of grade-20 and eight of grade-21, and its 2017-18 budget was approximately Rs82 billion.

The draft said a police force of such a size could only be administered with a modern, effective and democratic law, adding that the Police Act 1861 was still valid and that the new law would be enacted after widespread consultation with all the stakeholders.

The new police act was drafted to shift from bureaucratic to democratic control, making the police accountable to institutions rather than individuals, with the emphasis on professional capacity-building, functional specialisation, transparency, and community engagement and participation in policing.  

Salient features

Superintendence of police will rest with the provincial government, administration of police will rest with the inspector general of police, mechanism for posting and transfer of IGP/RPO/DPO and duties of police officers will be clearly defined.

A mechanism for transparent and merit-based promotion and recruitment, recruitment and promotion boards, promotion of ASIs through Sindh Public Service Commission and appointments of experts will be organised on functional lines.

Specialised units like BDU, Traffic Wardens, CTD, SCU, RRF and K9, as well as special units for police accountability, training, personnel management and information technology will be established, while Investigation and Watch & Ward departments will be separated.

IGP’s appointment

The federal government will appoint the provincial police chief from a panel of three officers provided by the chief executive. The IGP will be answerable to the Sindh Police Monitoring & Coordination Authority.

The IGP will be appointed for a minimum period of two years, will have administrative and financial autonomy and will be duty-bound to issue codes of conduct to regulate police practices.

The district police officers (DPOs) will be posted with the approval of the government, and the terms of their offices will be at least two years. The IGP can remove a DPO before the end of the two-year tenure with the approval of the CM on the basis of a formal enquiry into the officer’s misconduct.  

Monitoring authority

The Sindh Police Monitoring & Coordination Authority will be headed by the CM and will be considered the supreme body for oversight, enquiries and reforms. Its members will be represented by the opposition, the minorities, the civil society and women.

Meanwhile, provincial and district criminal justice committees will also be established, with representation of all the stakeholders, including the chief justice, the prosecutor general, the Sindh police chief, and prisons chief. These bodies will act as catalysts for swift justice.