ALLEGATIONS of illegal appointments, misallocations of police funds, a tug of war between the courts and the Sindh government, a new provincial police chief installed by the federal government to replace the previous chief under investigation — the recent turmoil in the Sindh Police epitomises much that has gone wrong with law enforcement in Karachi and the province generally.

The problems are both short term and long term. While the PPP government in Sindh has not done itself any favours and is perceived to select senior police officers on the basis of loyalty rather than professional competence, the provincial set-up is being interfered in unduly by federal elements.

For its part, the PML-N government in Islamabad may say that intervention became inevitable after the Supreme Court appeared to suggest that the ousted police chief is prima facie guilty of allegations that NAB is set to investigate.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the hidden hand of the army-led security establishment is likely adding to all the chaos and confusion.

It is has long been an open secret that police appointments in Sindh have been heavily politicised affairs. The province has been bedevilled by the twin problem of an under-resourced police force and a politicised one.

But the main culprits in Sindh’s miserable law-enforcement history, the PPP and the MQM, may well respond that the situation is no different in the other provinces.

Indeed, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab’s police forces are hardly models of professionalism and depoliticisation.

Yet, in the decline of Karachi and the overall thrust of policing in the rest of Sindh there is ample evidence that the emphasis of successive PPP governments in Sindh has been on controlling the police rather than letting them get on with their job.

One of the allegations against the ousted IG, Ghulam Hyder Jamali, was the shocking police attack on supporters of Zulfiqar Mirza inside the Sindh High Court. Even Mr Jamali would perhaps struggle to suggest that the incident was purely a policing decision and not a political one.

The bigger and longer-term problem is that none of the provincial governments appear interested in true police reforms. While Khyber Pakthunkhwa has touted its so-called police reforms, lasting administrative and legal changes have not been made.

The true test of police reforms lies in creating a system where the police can work with and not work for whichever government happens to be in power.

Sindh, caught in a vice applied by forces at the centre, may not be in a position to enact meaningful reforms at this moment — though paradoxically the province may need reforms most urgently.

Yet, why is police reforms not an issue for the PML-N government in Punjab? Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif presides over arguably the most stable province in the country — should that not be reason to effect real reforms?

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2016