KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday stayed its order for AD Khawaja to continue performing his duties as Inspector General Police (IGP) Sindh until the case is decided.
The Attorney General (AG) Sindh Zameer Ghumro informed the court that authority to appoint the IGP Sindh rests entirely with the Sindh government.
“No individual can challenge the Police Act as per the constitution, which gives provinces the right to make amendments to the act,” the AG Sindh stated.
He added that if the centre is not satisfied with a law passed by the province, then the Supreme Court and not the High Court should hear the case.
“Such matters should be forwarded to the Council of Common Interest,” he said.
The court questioned the AG Sindh about the course of action to be taken if a certain person is affected by a law passed by the province.
The hearing was adjourned until May 23.
AD Khawaja, on Wednesday, expressed his wish in the SHC to voluntarily step down as the IGP Sindh in the best interest of the force.
“AD Khawaja wishes to return to the federal government so that the provincial government can appoint an IGP of its choice,” the lawyer said.
He requested the court to end the stay order and remove his client’s name from the respondents’ list.
“The court can neither remove Khawaja’s name from the list of respondents nor end the stay order at this point,” Justice Munib Akhter responded.
The SHC has stayed the order for Khawaja to continue performing his duties as the IGP Sindh numerous times in the past month after it asked respondents to the case to submit various documents.
A cabinet session, where Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah approved the decision to surrender the services of the IGP to the federal government, was held on April 5.
A total of 13 IGPs in Sindh were appointed between 2002 and 2017.
Khawaja was appointed the IGP on March 13, 2016.
On April 2, Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti took charge as the acting IGP Sindh after the provincial government surrendered AD Khawaja’s services to the federal government.
Earlier on April 11, the SHC extended the stay order for AD Khawaja to continue serving as the IGP Sindh until April 13.
A notification issued by the Sindh government that replaced AD Khawaja with Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti as the IGP was suspended by the SHC on April 3.
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday that we will accept and implement the court’s decision on the IG Sindh matter.
He also remarked that provincial government had sent names of possible candidates to the federal government and asked it to appoint anyone as IG Sindh. Murad Ali Shah was speaking to the media at Sehwan, where he had gone to attend the last day of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Urs.
