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| November 22, 2007 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 11, 1428 |
KARACHI: Police dept sees pre-poll flurry of postings
KARACHI, Nov 21: Notwithstanding the caretaker provincial government in place, a flurry of transfers is taking place in the police department, Dawn has learnt, which is being considered – by political parties in opposition in particular – to be a form of pre-poll rigging.
According to sources within the police department, the transfer of station house officers picked up pace during the last days of the earlier political government. Since Nov 19, however, when the caretaker government took oath of office, the transfers of SHO and supervisory police officers has taken on a more furious pace than ever — instead of there being a freeze on such departmental affairs, which officials describe as routine affairs.
Between Oct 30 and Nov 20, as many as 34 station house officers have been transferred in the city, official statistics show.
Referring to the on-going process of transfer/postings, a senior police official said that such departmental activity usually ceases with the announcement of the election schedule.
However, his views proved off the mark when late Tuesday night, the Nov 20 dated transfer orders of 12 station house officers were issued and signed by the capital city police officer (CCPO) Azhar Ali Farooqui. Similarly, on the same date, DPO Ghulam Sarwar Jamali was transferred from Nawabshah to the post of SRP Base Korangi, while Ghayasuddin Rashdi, who used to be DPO Umarkot, was transferred to Nawabshah. These transfers were issued on the very day the Election Commission of Pakistan announced the schedules for both the National Assembly elections and those for the provincial assemblies.
Asked about the Nov 20 transfer notifications, the caretaker home minister, Brigadier (retd) Akhtar Zamin, was initially unwilling to accept that such a notification had been issued at all. “I have spoken to the IG and he assured me that no such transfer has taken place,” he told Dawn, while conceding that “it was our first day . . . they could have issued the notification.” However, Mr Zamin confirmed that other than for administrative reasons, transfers and postings could not take place during an interim government.
Some postings turned out to be rather curious, said sources, citing the example of SHO Saudabad, Irshad Inayat, who was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Establishment around 10 days ago. He was released on bail in a day or so, and returned to take charge of the post of SHO Saudabad from Rao Zaheer, who had been posted in his place by DIG East on entry on police control. Meanwhile, Inspector Syed Shakir Ali, who had originally been posted as SHO Saudabad prior to Inayat, staged a comeback after spending some days as the SHO of the Soldier Bazaar and Nabi Bux police stations. Upon the issuance of Shakir’s orders as SHO Saudabad, Inayat was posted to the police lines but for merely six to seven hours. Subsequently, fresh orders were issued posting him as the SHO of the Korangi Industrial Area police station.
Similarly, few days ago, DSP Qaiser Ali Shah – who was posted as SPO Gulshan-e-Iqbal – was transferred as SPO Orangi Town, replacing the incumbent officer DSP Abdul Rasheed as SPO Gulshan-e-Iqbal, but only for a single day. He was replaced by DSP Rizwan Ali Wasti, who was awaiting posting.
However, a notification signed by the CCPO and issued on Nov 15 stated: “This office order No.CCPO/77402-14 dated 15-11-2007 as far as it relates to the transfer and posting of the following police officers is hereby cancelled. 1, Mr Abdul Rahseed Khan DSP, 2, Syed Qaiser Ali Shah DSP. The rest of the order will hold good.”
Sources said that in Gulshan town alone, the station house officers of six police stations out of a total of eight have changed within the last week or so. “Almost all of the new lot being posted have never held the post of an SHO but were chowki in-charges or had been working at much more inconspicuous positions,” said a senior police official upon the condition of anonymity.
It appears that such officials are well-suited to being employed as tools in the forthcoming elections. Interestingly enough, almost all the orders pertaining to transfers and postings were issued during the late hours.
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