ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday pardoned Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tahir Alam Khan after he tendered an unconditional apology for passing ‘derogatory’ remarks against the judiciary.

A day earlier, a division bench, comprising Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, had expressed annoyance over a letter submitted to the court by the police during the hearing of a bail plea of an alleged narcotics smuggler.

In the letter, the IGP had stated: “Due to the pinching remarks by the judiciary off and on, I and other senior supervisory officers of police, have to face the embarrassing situation.”

Terming the remarks derogatory, the bench had summoned the IGP.

On Thursday, the police chief appeared before the bench and apologised for the remarks, calling it a junior officer’s inadvertent mistake. He assured the court of being cautious and vigilant in future.

During the hearing of the case, the court also asked the IGP why the police personnel manning security checkposts had been asked to let off people carrying one or two bottles of alcohols. The IGP clarified that he meant the staff should also stop and act against organised rackets and influential class for carrying or using drugs but the subordinate officers interpreted it differently and issued such a direction on their own.

“I am a grade 20 officer and totally support the system and its functioning. I have introduced a monitoring system and also have started training sessions for the officers,” he said. Regarding the forensic test of drugs, the IGP said the police had set up a special cell for the drug sampling and investigation. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has also been signed with the KP government in this regard. After hearing Mr Khan’s point of view, the court pardoned him but warned him to be careful in future, especially before signing any document.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2015

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