Karachi:Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Sindh chapter acting president and parliamentary leader in Sindh assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh has urged the governor of Sindh Imran Ismail to take notice of bids of the ruling party to politicize Sindh police and foil these conspiracies in the larger interest of people.
In a letter sent to the Sindh governor here Wednesday, Haleem Adil said a professional and non-political policing system is a must for ensuring rule of law and constitution in society. It is an open secret that one of the major reasons of law and order issue in Sindh is the politicizing of Sindh police. Though the apex courts of the country have already ordered for police reforms, but in Sindh, the PPP government is still trying to reduce the powers of Sindh police and make is its political tool to victimize opponents.
Haleem Adil said that as per media reports, the PPP’s government of Sindh is trying to get passed a new Sindh Police Act from Sindh Assembly to curtail the powers of the Inspector General of Police Sindh which were given to the IGP by a judgment of the High Court of Sindh initially and upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan when the Sindh Government went into appeal against the order of the Sindh High Court.
He reminded that prior to independence of Pakistan the British masters introduced Police Act 1861 with an intention of maintaining order in their colony, controlling the colonial subjects and collecting revenue. Unfortunately, the same law and system continued after 1947. In 2002 a new law- Police Order 2002 was promulgated by the Federal Government and it was enforceable in all the provinces. In 2011, the Sindh Assembly repealed the Police Order 2002 which was a progressive and modern law and was aimed at creating a professional; service oriented and democratically controlled police organization. In the province of Sindh, the Police Act 1861 was revived.
He mentioned that the repeal of the Police Order 2002 in the High Court of Sindh when the Government of Sindh had sent then IGP Mr. AD Khuwaja on forced leave and the High Court in its judgment accepted the provincial government’s jurisdiction to frame its own law but at the same time made IG Sindh overall in charge of the Sindh Police and bared the Chief Minister from interfering into the administration of Police directed the government to frame rules granting all powers of transfer and posting to the IGP and the judgment gave a tenure of three years to the IGP Sindh. A similar judgment was given by the High Court of Balochistan. The High Court of Punjab also gave security of tenure to the IGP.
He said that later the Government of Sindh went into appeal against the order of the High court of Sindh and argued that the Chief Minister Sindh should have authority to control Sindh Police being chief executive of the province. The Supreme Court of Pakistan decided the appeal and passed the orders that the Sindh High Court’s decision to give full powers and tenure to the IGP was a right thing in accordance with law. The Supreme Court also declared that since criminal law and evidence law are the concurrent subjects, the Police law was a concurrent subject and since the constitution of Pakistan lays down that when there is conflict between a federal law and provincial law, the federal law prevails so the federal government has right to make police law applicable to all the provinces. This means the government of Sindh and the Sindh Assembly cannot enact a Sindh Police Act.
Haleem Adil said that however, it is being apprehended that the Sindh government is bent to get passed a law in a sheer violation of judgments of the apex courts. It wants to make Inspector General of Police Sindh as a person to take dictation from the chief minister Sindh and take on political opponents of the provincial regime. “In this backdrop we appeal to you to use of good offices to ensure that the independence, impartiality, professionalism and non-political character of Sindh police is not harmed at any cost, and all the decisions of the apex courts regarding policing issues in Sindh are obeyed and implemented and the rule of law and constitution is prevailed in the province of Sindh.”
Haleem Adil said we have also sent a copy of this letter to the chief secretary Sindh. He said independence and professional of police is a very crucial issue and we would not allow anyone to politicize Sindh police yet again, as we are reaping the bitter fruits of previous conspiracies to harm law and order in Sindh including Karachi by politically interfering into professional matters of our police.
However, talking to media outside the Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil said speaker of Sindh assembly is perturbed due to his accountability in NAB, but it is not a good practice to hurl threats to opposition MPAs. He advised him to stop acting as a Maula Jatt. He said Imran Khan is our captain and all his decisions are on merit. He strongly condemned terrorism on Makran Coastal Highway and demanded arrest of the killers. He said death of a baby in police firing on University Road Karachi shows lack of proper training in Sindh police department.