KARACHI: After receiving explanation letters from the establishment division, eight DIGs, who were recently transferred from Sindh to other provinces under the federal government’s rotation policy, have reportedly decided to relinquish charge to join their new posting, it emerged on Wednesday.

A senior officer familiar with this development said that if the Sindh government approached the apex court and if any restraining order was issued then the officials might stay in the province, otherwise they would relinquish their posts in compliance with their transfer notifications to avoid any disciplinary action.

The establishment division on Nov 23 had given explanation letters to the senior officers in Sindh and other provinces as they had not joined their new assignments in compliance with the Nov 9 transfer orders warning them of disciplinary proceedings.

Four officers of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) —Hassan Naqvi, Zahid Ali Abbasi, Dr Kazim Hussain Jatoi and Khalid Hyder Shah — and seven BS-20 Police Services of Pakistan (PSP) officers — DIGs Abdullah Shaikh, Nouman Siddiqui, Saqib Ismail Memon, Javed Akbar Riaz, Naeem Shaikh, Maqsood Ahmed and Omar Shahid Hamid — were transferred from Sindh on Nov 9, but the provincial government had refused to relieve them.

There is no indication that whether the four PAS officers would join their PSP colleagues in relinquishing charge or continue to stick to their posts in the province.

Meanwhile,Sindh Infor­ma­tion Minister Saeed Ghani said that the law and order of the province would be compromised if the federal government was allowed to ‘unilaterally’ withdraw seven senior police officers posted in the province.

Talking to the media at the Sindh Assembly, the minister said the ‘proposal’ to transfer the PSP officers was not acceptable to the provincial government as maintenance of the law and order was its responsibility.

He reiterated the demand that the Centre immediately withdraw its transfer orders as the same request was also contained in a letter sent by the chief minister to the prime minister.

He said the Sindh had 26 posts of grade-20 police officials and against them 22 PSP officers were working in the province. He said that similarly, Sindh was still facing a shortage of 44 PAS officers.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2021