KARACHI, Dec 13: In a major reshuffle, the TPO of Lyari and three SHOs have been replaced with new officers, apparently in another attempt to restore law and order in the crime-infested town.

To supplement the reshuffle, the police hierarchy has brought in SP Mir Zubair of the investigation wing who will be assisted by SP Farooq Awan of the AVCC, Site TPO Imran Shaukat and Lyari TPO Mazhar Malick.

Sources in the police department said on Monday that the team would work under the overall supervision of DIG Operations Mushtaq Shah. CCPO Tariq Jameel told Dawn that the changes had been made for pro-active policing in Lyari Town.

He said that at the moment, operation was not being launched in the town but extra police force, along with more vehicles, was being provided to the town to ensure peace and pro-active policing.

"We want the local police to be more active to ensure law and order in the town," the CCPO stressed. TPO Saleem Khan was replaced by DSP Mazhar Malick, SHO Chakiwara by Malick Ehsan, SHO Kalri Shaukat by Irfan Ahmed and SHO Kalakot was replaced by Shaukat Shahani.

A few months back, DSP Saleem Khan was transferred from Punjab and posted as TPO Lyari in place of DSP Javed Baloch. Similarly, Javed Baloch was posted as TPO Lyari after failure of the Jehanabad operation, which was aimed at arresting Arshad Pappu and his gang members.

However, these transfers and postings have so far failed to restore law and order in the troubled Lyari Town which is in the grip of a persisting gang war involving two notorious gangs, one led by Arshad Pappu and the other by Rehman Dakait. The gang war has already claimed several hundred lives over the years.