SUKKUR: The Jacobabad SSP was transferred after an internal inquiry suggested that 416 personnel were recruited in the district against 250 vacancies and most of the recruits were made to pay between Rs500,000 and Rs700,000 each for the job.

The scam surfaced when the surplus recruits approached the officials concerned with the complaint that they had not been receiving their salaries for three months.

It is learnt that the provincial police chief taking notice of alleged corruption immediately transferred SSP Farooq Ahmed Jamali to facilitate a transparent inquiry.

He has asked the newly posted SSP, Zafar Iqbal Malik, to submit a report to him after a thorough investigation into the matter.

Sources in the police department said that the elected representatives of the district had also taken up the issue with the IGP after it was brought to the their knowledge that the transactions of the illegally charged money were made through a sheet clerk posted at the police headquarters.The sources said that the health fitness certificates issued to 91 candidates by the Peoples Primary Health Initiative dispensary at the police headquarters were accepted in violation of the prescribed rules.

“Only the medical superintendent (civil surgeon) of a civil hospital is authorised to issue such a certificate,” they added.

The sources said that the elected representatives were also annoyed over rejection of what they claimed ‘eligible cases’ recommended by them for appointment on different pretexts.

Due to surplus appointments and other irregularities found in the recruitment process, the salaries of many new recruits were not approved and, therefore, the issue had been pending a decision for three months, the sources said.

Jirga settles 33-year blood dispute

A jirga (tribal court) held in Adam Khan Panhwar village near Jacobabad town on Friday settled a dispute that had been causing casualties, including murder of a retired DSP, in tit-for-tat attacks involving the Lashari and Ghorshani clans since 1981.

The jirga was chaired by former Sindh minister Sardar Manzoor Ali Khan Panhwar and attended and assisted by Sardarzada Wazir Khan Umrani, Sardar Shahnawaz Khan Umrani, Imam Bukhsh Gorshani, Syed Nabi Shah, Sardarzada Mohammed Ameen Khan Buledi, Mir Naeem Khan Khoso, Mohammed Ameen Kehar, Nazimuddin Umrani, Haji Noor Mohammed Gorshani, PPP Jacobabad district general secretary Liaquat Ali Lashari, and several other elite of the district.

Accepting the jirga ruling, the two sides pledged to withdraw all FIRs lodged against each other. As a goodwill gesture, the Gorshanis waived Rs100,000 from the fine money to be paid to them by the Lasharis.

The armed conflict between the two clans had started with the death of a man, Eidan Ali Lashari, in 1981 allegedly in firing by the then DSP, Abdul Hakeem Gorshani.

The former DSP’s son, identifying himself as Major Gorshani, informed the jirga that his father had sent a representation to the Lashari community with the plea to pardon his father as it was not a targeted attack.

However, he said, the Lasharis had chosen to continue with the hostility and finally killed his father after his retirement.

Eiden Lashari’s son, Dr Shoukat Ali Lashari, also deposed at the jirga.

After reviewing the statements of the two sides in a closed room for several hours, Sardar Manzoor Panhwar pronounced the ruling. He fixed Rs800,000 compensation against each of the two murders and ordered the Lashari clan to pay an additional fine of Rs500,000 to the rival side for not obliging the Gorshanis when they sought pardon.

The Lasharis were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs200,000 to Imam Bukhsh Gorshani for falsely implicating him in the dispute.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2014