PTI, MQM-P lash out at Sindh govt for removing ‘honest’ cops

KARACHI: Expressing their serious concern over the Sindh government’s ‘smear campaign’ against police force in the province, leaders of the province’s major opposition parties on Thursday said that they would not allow the PPP’s government to remove Sindh police chief Dr. Syed Kaleem Imam at any cost.

Leaders of both parties separately said that actions of the Sindh Police against the ruling party-affiliated local politician in rural Sindh have irked the provincial government and it is that reason that they are removing Sindh police chief. Opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi at a press conference at Insaf House, the party’s secretariat in Karachi, on Thursday, alleged that PPP ministers and ruling party’s politicians are involved in running criminal and dacoit gangs in Kutcha (riverine) area of Shikarpur and adjoining districts. Naqvi, who is also a PTI’s central leader, claimed that provincial minister

Imtiaz Shaikh had been running a criminal gang in his home district of Shikarpur to victimize his political rivals. He also said that other local politicians have been supporting and backing gangs of dacoits involved in kidnappings for ransom and robberies. Linking a notorious criminal Sardar Taigo Khan Taigani with provincial minister Imtiaz Shaikh, Naqvi said that the gang was involved in killing a number of police officers in operations against dacoits in Kuchta area. “There are several startling stories of such crime gangs backed by ruling politicians,” he said.

Haleem Adil Sheikh, the PTI parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly, said that rulers of Sindh are now defaming the police through a smear campaign against police force. “The series of allegations being leveled against Sindh police show that it was only police department that is corrupt in Sindh province, while all other departments are honest and clean,” said Shaikh, who is also the PTI’s central vice-president. “Just three days ago, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah had said that Karachi is a safe city. Would the chief minister like to deny that the Sindh police had also played a crucial role in making Karachi a safe city,” he said.

He said now a police officer is being removed who is about to retire in seven months. Shaikh said the Sindh government should dare to appoint honest officers, like A D Khawaja or Aftab Pathan as IGP Sindh. The PTI’s central deputy secretary-general Ashraf Qureshi, central deputy secretary information Tahir Malik, MPA Riaz Haider and others were also present at the press conference.

The MQM-P, another major opposition party in Sindh Assembly, has also expressed its anger over removing Sindh police chief, saying the officer was being punished for taking action against criminals linked with ruling party in the rural Sindh.

Kunwar Naveed Jamil, the MQM-P’s parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly, and Khwaja Izharul Hasan, an MPA said the police action of merely registering a case against a PPP MPA has displeased the chief minister Sindh. “The chief minister considers the senior police officer as his ‘peasant force’. When Imam did not obey his illegal and unconstitutional orders, he was removed as a punishment,” said the MQM-P leaders.

They said because of Imam’s policies and reforms in Sindh police, Karachi has witnessed a decline in the crime ratio in Karachi. “In order to show police as a failed department, the Sindh government is continuously slashing the police budget sanctioned for purchasing modern weapons,” they said. The MQM-P legislators demanded the provincial government to release budget allocated for police.