The Sindh High Court Wednesday (today) restrained the provincial government from sending Inspector General of Police (IGP) AD Khawaja on “forced leave”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah issued the order on a petition filed by Karamat Hussain and Shehzad Roy.
The court issued notices to the IGP and the Sindh government, asking them to file their responses by the next hearing. The hearing was subsequently adjourned until Jan 12.
-A. D. Khawaja’s rift with Sindh govt-
Khawaja was appointed Sindh IGP, on March 12, this year after the government removed then police chief Ghulam Hyder Jamali.
In his over nine-month tenure, Khawaja tried his best to bring improvement in the police department, but he gradually went out of favour with the ruling party as soon as he refused to entertain certain “requests.”
When vacancies in the police department were announced, he formed a committee also comprising representatives of the army’s V Corps and the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee to ensure merit in the recruitment process. This step irked the members of the ruling party who wanted their share in the police recruitment in order to appease their voters ahead of the next general elections.
The sources said Khawaja also earned the top PPP leadership’s ire over the issue of recalcitrant SSP Rao Anwar. The officer was suspended for arresting Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan. Later, his suspension was lifted but still he did not get the post of SSP-Malir although the powerful political elements wanted the IGP to reinstate him to his previous post.
He had been in hot waters after he refused to accept the demand of an influential man, said to be linked with the powerful sugar millers lobby, who was reportedly misusing the police for getting sugar cane supplies for his mills and the IGP ordered the official concerned to stop this practice.
Meanwhile, Karachi police chief Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar, also a grade-21 police officer, has been given additional charge of the Sindh IGP.
Read more: CM sends IG Sindh Police on ‘forced leave’
