Stay order against ‘political appointments’ in police maintained until March 8

KARACHI – The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday maintained the stay order against alleged political appointments in the Karachi police until March 8.
An SHC division bench, comprising Justices Maqbool Baqir and Shahid Anwer Bajwa, also directed Sindh Advocate General Fatah Malak to produce the complete record of the written and verbal tests.
On February 1, the SHC had restricted the Sindh government from appointing constables in the Karachi police who were allegedly appointed on political basis until the filing of official comments.
In Thursday’s hearing, Malak requested the court to vacate the stay order, arguing that the petitioner has no proof regarding political appointments, and that the content in the application is based on baseless newspaper reports. Petitioners Ali Safdar Depar Advocate and Javed Kalwar Advocate had filed a constitutional petition through senior lawyer Abdul Salam Memon against appointments of constables in the Karachi police on alleged political basis.
In their petition, they affirmed that the police department had announced appointing 1,500 constables in the Karachi police last year, and more than 10,000 candidates had applied for the post, many of whom were graduates.
The police department conducted their required tests and examinations, but before the announcement of the final result, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah visited the headquarters of a political party and, according to a story published in various reliable newspapers, Gilani and Shah promised to appoint constables on the recommendation of the political party.
The petitioners prayed the upper court to declare these probable appointments as illegal and the adopted process as null and void.
They also prayed to direct the government to produce before the court the complete record regarding appointments of constables, and to constitute a judicial committee under the supervision of the SHC registrar to examine the entire record and then declare the result according to law.