- Govt terminates services of former Islamabad SSP Mohammad Ali Nekokara for arguing against using force against PTI and PAT protesters during Islamabad sit-ins last year
- Former IGP says Nekokara’s dismissal is ‘tragic, unfortunate’ and would lower morale of honest police officials
The Establishment Division on Tuesday issued a notification to dismiss former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohammad Ali Nekokara, who had argued against using force against marchers last year during the Islamabad sit-in.
The notification for his dismissal said he has been removed over “inefficiency and misconduct”.
“Mr Mohammad Ali Nekokara shall have the right of appeal to the Appellate Authority under the Civil Servants (Appeal) Rules 1977, within a period of 30 days from the receipt of this notification,” read the notification.
The notification was issued by the Establishment Division on behalf of the government after an enquiry committee on this matter ruled in favour of Nekokara’s dismissal from his job.
In August last year, Nekokara had written a detailed letter to Interior Secretary Shahid Khan, emphasising the importance of not using force when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) announced their decision to march on Parliament House. The Interior Ministry led by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had discussed whether to stop Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri by force or let them march into the high-security zone.
In his correspondence, Nekokara mentioned the Model Town incident, where the unnecessary use of force had led to the deaths of more than a dozen innocent people in Lahore and created grave problems for the provincial government.
The former SSP made his case on the basis “that the use of force on a crowd of more than 30,000, including women and children, by a loosely integrated force consisting of police units from Punjab police, AJK police and Railways police in addition to Rangers and Levies and Islamabad police, entailed serious risk of misuse of authority and disproportionate force”.
A three-member enquiry committee, including Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, Secretary to the Prime Minister Nadeem Hassan Asif and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Balochistan Mohammad Amlesh was initiated against him in November, the main charge being refusal to obey an order from his seniors.
Sources earlier said that other charges levelled against the police officer included misrepresentation of facts, refusal to use force, leaking information to the media, causing the demoralisation of the police force under his command and miscalculations on the impact of the use of force.
DISMISSAL “TRAGIC, UNFORTUNATE’:
Former IGP Afzal Shigri termed Nekokara’s dismissal from service as ‘tragic’ and ‘unfortunate’.
“This is a case of grave injustice to a gentleman who has an unblemished career record. This wrong decision would lower the morale of police officers who are already facing a tough time due to the flawed policies of the government,” he told Pakistan Today.
“I am privy to the enquiry conducted against Nekokara. The officer was not properly heard. Moreover, for major penalty, there must be concrete evidence of misconduct against the officer which is missing in his case,” he added.
“The Supreme Court has given proper guidelines for public servants in the Anita Turab case. According to the verdict, the bureaucrats have an independent responsibility to guard the national and state interest and they are not bound to obey each and every order of the government ministers,” he added.
This is a disgrace that a police officer who spoke up against killing innocent women and children is removed. This shows that Pakistan is only serving the Sharif Family while the nation is burning. PAT salutes SSP Nekokara
Party political interference in policing must be made impossible.
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