KARACHI: The federal government on Thursday informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that it would not force the provincial government to appoint the province’s police chief of Centre’s choice, but said that under the law its consultation was required in this regard.

Forwarding his arguments on a petition against the provincial government’s move to remove Inspector General of Sindh Police A.D. Khowaja before a division bench, the federal government’s law officer, Additional Attorney General Salman Talibuddin, stated that Sindh government did not tell the federal government the reasons for removing the provincial police chief and surrendering his services to the Centre.

He said the Sindh government should have informed the federal government about reasons of IGP Khowaja’s removal so that the same could be overviewed.

“As per 1993 agreement, the IG should be appointed with the consultation of all stakeholders, the federal and provincial governments,” he argued.

Later the SHC division bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, put off the matter till May 30 and extended the stay order restraining the provincial government from removing IGP Khowaja.

The provincial government through a notification on March 31 surrendered the services of A.D. Khowaja to the federal government and appointed Additional IG Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti, a grade-21 officer, as acting IGP on April 1.

Later, civil rights campaigners approached the SHC requesting it to initiate contempt proceedings against the government official for flaying its orders.

The issue came to light in December last year when Mr Khowaja was sent on forced leave by the government reportedly after they developed differences over action against people having connections with the co-chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party, Asif Ali Zardari.

On April 6, the SHC had passed an interim order directing Mr Khowaja to continue his duty as provincial police chief and since then it is being extended by the court.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017