KARACHI, April 10: Exactly a month before polling day, the Sindh police on Wednesday transferred more than 25 senior superintendents of police (SSPs) and superintendents of police (SPs) — most of whom were posted in key districts of the province — in a massive reshuffle what is not seen as transparent by anti-Pakistan Peoples Party alliance in elections though the authorities termed it a move in accordance with the Supreme Court order.

The Sindh police released a detailed notification of transfers and postings of officers at the provincial level and a handout released by the central police office (CPO) suggested several officers awaiting posting were assigned task just weeks before the elections.

“In fact the move has been made in compliance with the Supreme Court orders,” said Sharfuddin Memon, adviser to the caretaker Chief Minister on home affairs. “It also serves the purpose to transfer the officers posted by the previous government to keep the electoral process transparent so that there is no question mark over the impartiality of the officers of the law-enforcement agency.”

The handout said SP Matiari Mazoor Ali Khatiyan, SP Badin Fida Hussain Mastoi, SP Hyderabad Afzal Beg, SP Naushahro Feroz Imdad Ali Shah, SP Benazirabad Ghulam Sarwar Abro, SP Tando Allahyar Nisar Ahmed Channa, SP Jamshoro Usman Ghani Siddiqui, SP Mirpurkhas Farooq Ahmed Jamali, SP Tharparker Mazhar Nawaz Shiekh, SP Umerkot Abdul Qayum Pitafi, SP Jacobabad Mohammad Yunus Chandio, SP Khairpur Asghar Ali Shah, SP Kashmore Umar Farooque, SP Shikarpur Pervez Ahmed Chandio were directed to report to the CPO.

It said that SP Sanghar Mohammad Ali Baloch was transferred as SP Metiari, SP Telecom Shaukat Ali Khatiyan as SP Badin, and Additional Inspector General (AIG) Establishment, CPO, Saqib Ismail was transferred as SP Hyderabad. The SP Saddar Division Tanvir Alam Udho was transferred as SP Tando Mohammad Khan, SP T.M. Khan Ahmed Munir Sheikh was transferred as SP Naushahro Feroz, SP Ghulam Sarwar Bhaiyo was transferred as SP Benazirabad and SP/SRP-II Akramullah Soomro was transferred as SP Tando Allahyar.

Similarly, SP North Nazimabad Khurram Waris was transferred as SP Jamshoro, while Eitzaz Ahmed was posted as SP Mirpurkhas, AIG Qamar Raza Jaskani as SP Umerkot, ACLC SP Captain (retd) Asim Khan as SP Sanghar, Additional Divisional IG Crime Operations, Hyderabad, Zahir Ahmed Tunio as SP Tharparkar. SP Sukkur Syed Pir Mohammad Shah was transferred as SP Larkana, SP Ghotki Irfan Ali Baloch as SP Sukkur and SP Larkana Javed Jaskani as SP Jacobabad.

SP Saeedabad Abdul Salam Shiekh was transferred as SP Ghotki, SP Investigation (east) Naveed Ahmed Khuwaja was transferred as SP Khairpur, SP Shahdadkot Farrukh Ali as SP Kashmore, SP Traffic (east) retired captain Ghulam Azhar as SP Shikarpur and SP Investigation (south) Faizullah as SP Shahdadkot. It said that Aitizaz Ahmed Goraya would continue to perform his duties as PSO to caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Zahid Kurban Alavi while SSP Investigation (west-II) Noman Ahmed Siddiqui was posted as SP Mirpurkhas.

Jam Madad Ali of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional — one of the 10 political parties which formed an electoral alliance mainly against the Pakistan Peoples Party — agreed with the ‘spirit’ of the caretaker set-up behind the reshuffle but did not see the exercise transparent and demanded the same move at the police stations level.

“For instance, our alliance formally forwarded the names of the officers to the Election Commission, who should not be posted anywhere at least till elections as their political association is known to everyone,” he said. “Yet they are being posted in some sensitive districts. Similarly, there are complaints from almost every district, where SHOs are campaigning for a particular party without facing any resistance. Those SHOs should also be transferred.”