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Thursday March 28, 2024

Sindh police in disarray as govt-IGP differences linger

By Salis bin Perwaiz
May 04, 2018

There is no love lost between the Sindh government and the top cop of the province. The Pakistan Peoples Party, which is in power in the country’s southern province, has made several attempts, albeit unsuccessful, to remove AD Khowaja as inspector general of police. Khowaja has ridden the challenge out, thanks to judgments given by the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court allowing him to complete this three-year stint and prohibiting his transfer to Islamabad.

The tug of war is therefore showing no sign of abating, with IGP Khowaja also making efforts to ensure his own authority, as well as the powers of his police force, are not curtailed by the government. This has caused the two sides to lock horns on several occasions over the past year.

In October last year, after the provincial government made a move on October 24, 2017, to transfer him to Islamabad, Khowaja wrote a letter to the cabinet. In his letter, he referred to the notice served on him and a draft summary for the cabinet containing excerpts from Para 67 of the high court judgment of October 7, 2017.

He informed the cabinet that the summary seemed to have omitted certain material facts which were essential to be placed before it to enable it to take a judicious decision. He asked the cabinet to consider the fact that his posting order as IGP was issued by the Establishment Division, Government of Pakistan, on March 12, 2016, with concurrence of the Sindh government.

In his another letter, Khowaja showed his reservations over frequent changes and intervention in the police department, including transfers, postings and changes in the law. Another bone of contention was the draft of a piece of legislation called the Sindh Police Act 2017 that aimed to change the outdated laws promulgated in 1861. The new law came under criticism from senior police officials and other stakeholders, who said the police department was still working under the 1861 laws and they needed to be upgraded.

Now the government has decided to upgrade the laws through the Sindh Police Act 2018 and in this regard several meetings have taken place. Members from the legal fraternity have also attended the meeting and given their suggestions.

A paralysed force?

According to the draft of the proposed bill, the police is one of the largest departments of the Sindh government, having about 140,000 officers, including 20 officers of Grade 20 and eight officers of Grade 21. Its budget for the financial year 2017-18 is Rs82 billions.

The police force of such a size could only be administered with modern, effective and democratic laws. Lessons can be drawn from the experiences of other provinces (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab).

Showing his concerns over the administrative changes the government has made from time to time, IGP Khowaja has written a letter to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

In the letter, the IGP said that for last one month, a number of administrative orders had been issued by home department and S&GAD which undermined his administrative control over the police officers, including the powers to grant casual leave to subordinates. He said a number of Staff officers serving in the CPO were called by the home ministry and pressurised unnecessarily, with the situation ultimately leading to weak command and control over the subordinates.

In most of the cases, officers were transferred without completing reasonable tenures and on the grounds other than administrative exigency this led to a complete breakdown of daily routine work in the CPO, paralysing the police as an organisation, he added.

According to the letter, the recommendations sent by IGP office in respect of postings and transfers and disciplinary proceedings against certain officers found guilty of violating discipline are being consistently ignored, encouraging misconduct.

Khowaja said: “I may draw your kind attention towards discussions regarding police reforms and administrative independence of IGP during the last Apex Committee meeting where it was strongly resolved to empower the police chief for effective command and control over his subordinates; however, unfortunately subsequent orders issued are in total negation of the decision taken during the Apex Committee meeting.

“I may further submit that even under the existing Police Act 1861, IGP is vested with administrative control over the police force in the province. As an inspector general of police, Sindh, it falls under my responsibility to bring these issues to your kind perusal for taking remedial measures.”

The differences over granting leave to police subordinates still persisted. On this, the IGP wrote another letter saying that the directives issued by the chief minister were not in conformity with the Police Act, 1861, and Police Rules, 1934.

He added: “Your attention is drawn to Section 4 of Police Act, 1861, which reads as under: The administration of police throughout a general police-district shall be vested in an officer to be styled the Inspector General of Police, as the provincial government shall seem fit.

“The power to grant leave to subordinate police officers has also been defined in the Police Rules 8.9 (The table of authorisation is attached for ready reference). Any executive directive cannot be in conflict with the existing rules which are binding on all public servants/police officers.”

The latest letter

On April 30 this year, IGP Khowaja came forward to counter the amended draft of a bill called ‘The Sindh Police Act 2018’ by voicing his concerns in a letter addressed to the provincial government.

In his letter issued on Monday, the top cop of the province said he had gone through the content of the draft and held consultative meetings with senior colleagues in the police force to formulate a comprehensive and consolidated view on the proposed legislation.

He said it was his considered view that the police was one of the most important civil institutions, given the fact that it was saddled with the performance of such functions as conducting investigation, detaining suspects and preventing crimes, which “are critical to the success or failure of criminal justice system”.

According to the letter, the role and performance of the police are also pivotal to the protection of the citizens’ fundamental rights, particularly the right to life, property, dignity and honour, as envisaged in articles 4, 9 and 14 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Therefore, it says, keeping in view the key role of the police with regard to the maintenance of order and the enforcement of the fundamental rights of the people, the Sindh High Court took up constitutional petitions, and after the exhaustive judicial proceedings it passed a historic judgment, now reported as 2018 PLD 8.

The judgment has been subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan through a short order of March 22, 2018, wherein the court observed that the Sindh Assembly can promulgate a new police act in line with the judgment of the high court, the letter says, adding that the government has not filed any review and the judgment has attained finality, becoming a binding law.

Before dilating upon the spirit and directions of the judgment, IGP Khowaja said, “I must respectfully state that the detailed order of the honourable Supreme Court is still awaited. Therefore, it would be in the fitness of things if the proposed legislation is delayed until the detailed order is passed so that any conflict with, or deviation from, the judgment may be avoided and unnecessary litigation may be forestalled.”

Delaying the proposed legislation until the Supreme Court has released the detailed judgment is also imperative in order to benefit from the jurisprudential wisdom and practical guidance of the apex court in matters related to the reinforcement of the police as an institution and protection of the citizens’ fundamental rights, says the letter.

It adds that the thrust and objective of the high court’s judgment is to ensure the autonomy of command and operational independence of the Police so that it may freely and effectively perform its functions to establish order and protect the fundamental rights of the citizens.

The letter points out that the high court had also directed the provincial government to notify rules to be proposed by the IGP in the light of the judgment; however, instead of notifying the rules, the government has preferred to introduce a new police act, which obviously negates the spirit of the high court and Supreme Court’s judgments.

Moreover, the letter says, the draft shows that some of the proposed provisions, such as the creation of a provincial police cadre, are in direct contravention of Article 240 of the constitution, and the high court verdict.

According to the IGP, the police service of Pakistan is part of All Pakistan Services as envisaged in Article 240 of the constitution, and all senior ranks of police, BS-18 and above, fall in the category of the All Pakistan Services.

“The concept of modem police in democracies is integral to the establishment of an autonomous, apolitical, accountable and efficient force; whereas the draft act appears to be aiming at imposing shackles upon the administrative authority of police command through extra departmental controls.

“As a result, police is likely to be used as a tool rather than a robust civil arm of the state/province. Therefore, in my humble view, it’s time police was freed from the undue extraneous interference, and instead brought under such other supervisory controls/accountability forums as public safety boards, or oversight committees (comprising independent and apolitical members, elected and/or appointed).

“It may also be appreciated that the proposed act will have a serious bearing on fundamental rights of the people at large. Therefore, propriety demands that the draft be made public in order to seek inputs from different stakeholders, lawyers, academics, rights activists, and the seasoned present and retired civil servants/police officers.