March 26, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1429

KARACHI, March 25: Routine business in the power corridors of the Sindh police has come to a halt as the high-ups, uncertain about their future, wait for the new political administration to take over, a move believed to be a precautionary measure to appease the new provincial government.

Sources in the police and people privy to the routine activities in the Central Police Office said the authorities were cautious about wrapping up several matters pending within the department before the new government takes over.

“Several scheduled meetings of the police high-ups with representatives of private institutions were cancelled without elaborating the reasons,” said a source close to the coordination of such meetings.

The meetings pertained to private security companies, law and order in industrial areas and review of police performance.“But it’s quite obvious that the police authorities are not in any haste to fix several issues, mainly pertaining to the private sector. They are all waiting for the new government to take up such matters and naturally, by that time their fate would be much clearer too,” the source added.

He said it was not only the police which was avoiding any fresh initiatives in the wake of the new political set-up; there were several other functionaries in the provincial government who were following the same strategy.

“But the matter of the police is more sensitive than any other department,” said a senior official. “Since every political administration brings some change and reshuffles the existing positions, it’s a wise move to keep several initiatives on hold.”

Apart from meetings with private institutions, committees formed to execute investigations and deliberations on specific issues are also not willing to fulfil their jobs aggressively. Such committees are rather stagnant, foreseeing a change in their mandates following the new government’s formation.

“Our task demands input from various quarters, which includes feedback from investors, people and those who offer services to both of them,” said a senior police official, who is part of a committee which has been assigned a specific task.

“Every government brings its own priorities and in such a situation one wonders why we should hold a lengthy exercise, which might not even find a place in the priority list of the new political administration,” he added.

Besides, the aggressive tone of the elected leaders from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which emerged as a majority party in the province following the February 18 elections, has also kept the police high-ups from taking fresh initiatives.

More than once, Pir Mazharul Haq, leader of the PPP’s parliamentary party in the Sindh Assembly, has reiterated to review several measures of the caretaker set-up in the province once his party takes charge.

“We have serious reservations over various inductions made in government departments by the caretaker government. It was not part of its mandate, as the caretaker government’s mandate was simply to hold elections,” he told a press conference last week at the residence of soon to be chief minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah.

The sources in the police, however, maintained that the new political set-up would not only determine the future of several higher officials, it would also set its own priority list, which may appear different from the existing strategy of the police authorities.

“So it is not only the matter of one’s own future at stake, but also the line of action, which may become altogether different from the current one,” said a senior official, who differed with the idea that the police authorities were relying on the new political set-up to take several measures.