Sindh IGP removed after back-to-back terrorist blasts in Karachi

The Sindh government has appointed Kamran Fazal as the acting inspector general of police (IGP) after the federal government removed Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar from his post on Wednesday.

Additional IG Training Sindh Kamran Fazal has assumed the charge of the acting IGP. “In pursuance of Establishment, Cabinet Secretariat, government of Pakistan, Islamabad, I, Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar, PSP (BS-22) have relinquished the charge of the office of the IGP Sindh,” reads a charge relinquishment report submitted by the former IGP.

According to sources in the police department, the names of Karachi Additional IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon and Balochistan IGP Mohsin Hassan Butt are being tipped for the nex permanent IGP.

A meeting at the establishment division in Islamabad has reportedly been held to promote grade 21 officers, including Memon and Butt. The sources said Javed Alam Odho is likely to be appointed as the next Karachi police chief.

Meanwhile, after assuming the charge of the acting IG, the acting IGP issued an order that from today (Thursday), a police ‘darbar’ would be held at the Central Police Office daily. All the SHOs, SDPOs, SPSPs and DIGs have been notified about the darbar that would be held between 5pm and 6pm to discuss the problems of police employees and their solutions.

The federal cabinet had on February 2020 appointment Mahar as the Sindh IGP, replacing Dr Syed Kaleem Imam. Mahar was earlier serving as the inspector general of the Pakistan Railways police. Earlier, he served on various key posts in the Sindh police, including that of the Karachi additional IGP.

The change of the provincial police chief came after back-to-back three terror incidents in Karachi within just 20 days.

The first of the three recent terrorist incidents occurred on April 26 at the University of Karachi (KU), in which a female suicide bomber from the Majeed Brigade of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) detonated herself, killing three Chinese tutors and a Pakistani van driver, and wounding four others, including a Chinese tutor and two Rangers personnel.

Later, the terrorists carried out an IED bombing in the Saddar area on May 12, killing a teenage boy and wounding nine others while the vehicle belonging to the Pakistan Coast Guards was likely the target of the terrorists. After that, the terrorists carried out another bombing in the Boulton market area on May 16, killing a mother of four children and wounding several others. A mobile van of the Kharadar police station was the target of the terrorists.

The BLA claimed the responsibility for the KU blast while Saddar’s bombing was claimed by the Sindudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA). However, no militant outfit has so far claimed the responsibility of the Boulton Market blast but the investigators believe that separatist groups of Sindh and Balochistan were responsible for the third blast as well as they have apparently joined hands to sabotage the peace of Karachi.