RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The Sindh Cabinet on Wednesday called upon the federal government to withdraw the services of the incumbent Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Kaleem Imam and post ‘one of the experienced senior police officers’ from the panel to be sent to the Centre.

The provincial government said that the demand has been made keeping in view the growing incidents of kidnapping for ransom, particularly of girls, car and bike snatching, killing of innocent persons in police firing and failure of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to control the situation,

The single-point agenda of the cabinet meeting was held under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at CM House.

The chief secretary, Mumtaz Shah, all provincial cabinet members and advisors, PSCM, home secretary, secretary law attended the meeting.

The cabinet at the outset observed that the IGP has failed to control crime in the province and top of it he has violated discipline repeatedly, including making direct correspondence and direct contact with the foreign missions and embassies without prior approval of the government and the foreign office.

It was pointed out that the IG police had written a letter to the chief minister to surrender the services of DIG Khadim Rind. After some time, he sent a reminder to the chief minister. When the chief minister returned the services of DIG Khadim Rind to the federal government, the IG police sent a `secret’ letter to the chief secretary and protested with him on the surrender of the DIG without his knowledge and leaked the copy of the letter to the media. “He made the position of provincial government awkward in the eyes of the people of Sindh and Pakistan,” the cabinet observed.

It was also disclosed that the IG Police had recommended the name of incumbent SSP for Shikarpur. The IGP was told that the proposed SSP was totally new in the province and the Shikarpur was a sensitive district in terms of its tribal composition and feuds. Even the SSP was posted in Shikarpur on the insistence of the SSP. The SSP Shikarpur failed to control law and order and the incident of kidnapping for ransom went on increasing day by day. When people of the district and the city started staging protests the SSP started arresting innocent in narcotics cases and one of the arrested youngers was killed by police in torture. The SSP registered a case under ATC laws against 22 villagers. A DIG inquired into the case and wrote against highhanded ness of the SSP. The cabinet also observed that instead of taking action against the SSP, the IG Police defended him and the position of the provincial government awkward again. The provincial cabinet also noted the kidnapping cases of Bisma, Dua Mangi and they were returned when their parents paid ransom.

The cabinet also took the issue of Irshad Ranjhani who was shot in public by Raheem Shah at Bhains Colony. The police instead of taking Irshad Ranjahi to hospital took him to police station in their mobile. On the way the police allowed Raheem Shah to shot him dead. The IG police instead of taking actions against the police started defending them. As a result, four innocent Pathans of tribal area were killed in Larkana in reaction. At this the chief minister pointed out the killers of the four innocent Pathans have been arrested.

The cabinet observed that the IG Police in violation of rules and regulations and the SOP of federal government was directly corresponding with foreign missions working in Karachi and Islamabad.

The CM read out a list of 30 police officers of grade BPS -21 and BPS-22 to the cabinet to finales a panel of three officers. The cabinet finalized the names of Ghulam Qadir Thebo, Mushtaq Maher, Sanaullah Abbasi and Kamran Fazal. The chief minister said that Sanaullah Abbasi has recently been posted as IG Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa even then he would request the federal government. The cabinet unanimously said that the IG Police Dr Kaleem Imam has lost the confidence of the cabinet, therefore he must be replaced.

The cabinet urged the CM to approach the prime minister with the request to change the IG Police, Sindh as recommended by the cabinet so that law and order and over all police performance could be improved in the province. The cabinet also requested the CM to initiate disciplinary action against the IG Police Dr Kaleem Imam by sending a detailed statement with proofs of his misconduct and his failure to follow the provincial rules and regulations to the establishment division.