A day after resuming office and returning from his “forced leave”, Inspector General of Police, Sindh A.D. Khowaja on Tuesday set up a committee to examine cases of those policemen who had been dismissed from service between 2012 and 2015 because of illegal appointments.
A statement issued from the Central Police Office said that the Centralised Re-examination Committee was established on a directive of the apex court.
It said that the Additional IG Sanaullah Abbasi, who is the head of the Counter Terrorism Department, would lead the committee, which would “conduct eligibility tests of those candidates who were recruited in the Sindh police as constables through irregular recruitment process” between 2012 and 2015.
Hundreds of policemen were dismissed from service last year as an inquiry committee had found them ‘illegally’ recruited in which a former IGP had reportedly played a ‘criminal role’. A committee, also formed on the orders of the Supreme Court, had recommended their dismissal after weeks of investigations. It detected illegal appointments in the Sindh Reserve Police (SRP), Hyderabad and other units of the provincial law-enforcement agency.
However, it was decided that another ‘fair’ chance would be given to the dismissed policemen so they could prove their merit, which they did not possess previously.
“These candidates were dismissed/discharged from service on an inquiry conducted by a team of senior officers against illegal recruitments in the Sindh police during 2012 to 2015,” said the latest CPO statement. “There examination tests will include all tests taken during current general recruitment 2016 including physical tests and written test through NTS [National Testing Service].”