The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday was forced to adjourn the hearing of an application against the transfer of Inspector General of Police (IGP) A.D. Khawaja due to the absence of the applicants' counsel.

A junior member of the applicants’ counsel informed the two-judge bench that Advocate Faisal Siddiqui, the applicants' counsel, was unable to attend the hearing as he was engaged before a bench of the apex court in Islamabad.

After the adjournment was announced, Government of Sindh's Advocate General Barrister Zamir Ghumro expressed his displeasure, accusing the petitioners of dragging their feet to get an extension to the court's interim order.

Civil rights campaigners had previously approached the SHC for contempt proceedings against the provincial government after it surrendered Khawaja's services to the federal government and appointed Additional IG Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti, a Grade-21 officer, as acting IGP on April 1.

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Ghumro, in court on Wednesday, complained that this was first time in the judicial history that a "senior police officer" (Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti), posted as IGP Sindh, had been forced to worked under a "junior officer" (A.D. Khawaja) because of the ongoing case.

He said that law and order was an important issue and the provincial government wanted it to be resolved immediately, while the petitioners only wanted an extension to the court’s interim order that restrained the provincial government from transferring Mr Khawaja.

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The bench put off the hearing till Thursday, directing the applicants’ counsel to be present at the proceedings.