KARACHI, July 14: While the citizens are still trying to become familiar with the police system introduced a few years back in accordance with the Police Order 2002, the Sindh government has introduced a new police system dividing the city into three administrative zones.
The new system is similar to the one that was in place before 2002 under the Police Act 1861 when the city was divided into five zones, each headed by a separate senior superintendent of police.
A press statement issued here on Saturday by the Central Police Office stated that the provincial government had approved the recommendations to bring about improvement in the police system sent by Capital City Police Officer Azhar Ali Farooqui and issued a notification dividing the city into three zones, each headed by a separate deputy inspector general of police.
Three DIGs
The press statement said that the East, West and South zones would be headed by DIG Mir Zubair Mehmood, DIG Falak Khursheed and DIG Javed Bokhari, respectively.
All the DIGs would work under the command of the CCPO. The DIG (Investigations) would coordinate and monitor the working of all SSPs (investigation) while the heads of the three zones would monitor the performance of SSPs (investigation) in their respective zones.
Under the new set-up, of Karachi’s 19 towns created for administrative purposes by the police department, six each will be absorbed by the south, east and west police zones, while Clifton town will be included in the zone south.
New nomenclature
The current positions of town police officer (TPO) and SP investigations will carry over, but the posts of sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) and town investigation officer (TIO) will cease to exist.
In addition, supervisory police officers (SPOs) will be posted, carrying the same rank as assistant superintendent police or deputy superintendent police, but the term ASP or DSP will no longer be valid. Each SPO will be responsible for the performance of two police stations.
Under the new system, the DIG Investigation will also head the specialised investigation units such as Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC), Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) and the Anti-Dacoity and Robbery Cell (ADRC) which is still to be notified.
Copying the Rangers, but why?
Highly-placed sources told Dawn that the idea of dividing the city into three police zones was originally floated by top officials of the Rangers. The system was implemented for its compatibility with the three-zone administrative set-up of the Rangers though it would confuse citizens instead of providing them relief.
They said the power was concentrated in the rank of DIG under the new system which violated the spirit of devolution under the Police Order 2002. The new system introduced in Punjab first had failed to get off the ground there and now the Sindh IGP was trying to carry out the same experiment in Karachi, they added.
‘Political interference’
The Citizen-Police Liaison Committee chief, Sharfuddin Memon, said that the police department had always been a victim of political interference. Police should grow as an institution after which it should bring transparency in its ranks only then the accountability process would yield results and the performance would improve. He was of the view that there was no fault in any system. “A lot depends on how it is implemented,” he said.