The Sindh government on Wednesday removed Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar as Sindh's inspector general of police and posted Additional Inspector General Dr Kamran Fazal as the acting police chief of the province.

According to a notification, Mahar, a grade-22 officer who was appointed as Sindh's police chief in February 2020, has been directed to report to the Establishment Division.

In a separate notification from Sindh Chief Secretary Muhammad Sohail Rajput, Dr Kamran Fazal, a grade-21 officer presently serving as the head of police training, was assigned to hold the "acting charge of the post of Inspector General of Police, Sindh, Karachi until further orders".

Dr Fazal has previously served as the AIG Sukkur Region as well.

The transfer of the police chief comes as Karachi has been hit by a spate of terror attacks. Three bomb blasts have been reported in the city in as many weeks.

On April 26, a suicide attack outside the University of Karachi's (KU) Confucius Institute killed four people, including these Chinese teachers. The incident happened as a van, carrying staff members, was about to enter the Confucius Institute, located next to the commerce department. The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The second attack in the city took place in the Saddar area on May 12. One passerby was killed and at least nine injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted in a motorbike went off. Like BLA, the outlawed Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) had claimed responsibility of the attack in a message over social media platforms.

The third explosion took place earlier this week on Monday when an IED blasted near the Iqbal Market and New Memon Mosque in Karachi's Kharadar area claiming one life and leaving 11 injured.

The police are investigating the attacks as the security in the metropolis has been beefed up.

'Intelligence failure'

According to a Dawn report, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a press conference yesterday, accepted that anti-social and anti-state elements had started creating unrest.

“But, we would not allow them to achieve their nefarious designs,” he vowed.

Shah said that when the Bolton Market incident took place he was in Abu Dhabi with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to offer condolences over the death of the ruler of the UAE. “I cut my visit short and rushed back to Karachi,” he said and added that upon reaching at around 1.15am held an emergency meeting with law-enforcement officers concerned.

The CM said that he had told the policemen that it was an intelligence failure that three incidents had taken place one after another. He pointed out that when a terrorist carrying a bag entered Karachi University why her bag was not checked.

He said that the police would sensitise citizens to inform ‘15’ whenever they witness any suspicious activity.

“The police will talk to shopkeepers in the market to keep proper vigilance in their parking lots and install their private closed-circuit television camera system,” Shah added.