President replaced Durrani after Wasan threatened to resign

The President House had succumbed to the pressure by Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan after he threatened to resign if former Sindh inspector general of Police (IGP) Wajid Durrani was not transferred from his office, sources told Pakistan Today on Friday.
The dispute between Wasan and Durrani erupted when the police chief did not entertain the home minister’s wishes over the postings and transfers of 105 station house officers (SHOs) of Karachi division. Karachi Additional IG (AIG) Saud Mirza, who issued the transfer orders, also got involved after the home minister enquired about the postings.
Sources in the Sindh CM House said that a high-level meeting presided over by CM Qaim Ali Shah was held a few weeks ago to discuss the law and order situation in Sindh, particularly Karachi. The home minister, senior officials of police and other law enforcing agencies attended the meeting during which a senior officer of a premier intelligence agency expressed his dissatisfaction over the appointments of SHOs in Karachi. The senior spy said a majority of the SHOs had been appointed after receiving huge bribes.
The home minister did not show any reaction during the meeting. However he started gathering information on the SHOs’ transfers and postings, and found out that only five out of 105 SHOs had been posted according to his directions, while the rest were posted at Durrani’s discretion with orders issued by the Karachi AIG. Wasan held a meeting with Durrani and Mirza to enquire about the postings, however his questions enraged both police officers who allegedly misbehaved with him.
Wasan then contacted the President House but received a very cold response. He then resorted to take a very strong position on the issue and threatened to resign if Durrani was not removed from his office. At that time, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was already reeling from the resignation of its Sindh cabinet minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and could not afford to lose another minister, sources said. The President House therefore decided to remove Durrani from the office of Sindh police chief and appoint Syed Mushtaq Shah at his place. After assuming charge, Shah immediately trashed his predecessor’s administrative orders regarding promotions of the low rank police officers.