Karachi police chief bars law enforcers from checking Nikahnamas

The Karachi police chief has barred all law enforcement officials from checking people’s Nikahnamas to verify if a man and a woman seen together in public are married.

Additional Inspector General of Police Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh on Wednesday issued the order to all three ranges of the metropolis so the law enforcers stop the practice of harassing couples in public places.

The order issued by the Karachi Police Office was despatched to South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Javed Alam Odho, East DIG Amir Farooqui and West DIG Khadim Hussain Rind.

“There is a general complaint that policemen in mobiles and [on] motorcycles harass and humiliate couples by asking them to show [their] Nikahnamas to prove their credentials as husband and wife,” read the notice.

“You are hereby directed to issue strict instructions to the subordinate staff not to demand Nikahnama from any person. In future such complaints shall not be tolerated and action against [the] supervising officers will also be initiated.”

A day earlier the police chief had made another landmark announcement: wrong-way drivers will be arrested and their vehicles impounded. The people who were arrested for violating the traffic rules included two policemen.