KARACHI: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in Sindh has decided to include the matter of replacement of Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) A D Khawaja in the agenda for the next provincial cabinet meeting.
This is not the first time that provincial government has made attempts to replace the IGP as similar moves have been initiated in the past as well.
According to a notification, issued by Cabinet Section Officer Mohammad Hanif Umer, the cabinet meeting to be held on October 28 would discuss, among other important issues, the matter of replacing the current inspector general of police with a grade-22 PSP officer.
Earlier in April, the provincial cabinet had given approval to remove Khawaja from the important post, but the decision was later revised after court intervention.
The Sindh High Court (SHC) verdict given in this regard had allowed Khawaja to retain his position and continue serving in the capacity of provincial police chief. Last month, Khawaja had agreed to continue working relationship with the provincial government, despite months long tug-of-war between the two.
The court order had restored IGP Khawaja’s power in regard to making transfers and postings within the police force. In June, the Sindh government had taken away Khawaja’s powers to reshuffle senior police officers in the province.
It was mentioned in the court order that the provincial government could not remove a police chief without providing justification for their actions. In this connection, the court directed the government to follow the judgement made in the Anita Turab case, under which an IGP could only be removed from his post after the completion of three years as police chief.
The problem between the PPP-led provincial government and Khawaja started brewing when the latter made appointments of station house officers (SHO) on merit across the province, under which candidates were made to sit for tests and interviews. On this, the provincial government started having disagreements with the IGP as it was believed that the PPP wanted to appoint their own people on important police posts.
As a result, a two-judge bench of SHC headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, on May 30 had reserved the verdict in this case after hearing final arguments from the petitioner’s lawyer and provincial government law officer.
In April, the Sindh government had replaced Khawaja with another grade-21 police officer, named Sardar Abdul Majeed Dasti, in a move that was seen as some as the PPP’s attempt to reshuffle the bureaucracy ahead of the 2018 general elections.
The provincial government had terminated Khawaja’s services through a notification stating Dasti would be appointed as Sindh IGP till the Establishment Division appointed a regular officer in his place. However, the SHC bench on April 3 had suspended the provincial government’s notification seeking the IGP’s removal.
The provincial government had also issued statements saying that the petition filed with the SHC had been furthered by Khawaja in collusion with the federal government to bring bad name to the PPP-led Sindh government.
During court hearings, Khawaja had requested to leave his post citing increasing difficulty in carrying out his duties due to pressure and hostility from political quarters. The request was turned down by the court, which ordered Khawaja to retain his post while the case was being deliberated upon.
In December 2016, the provincial government had sent Khawaja on a “forced leave”, a decision which brought civil rights campaigners on the streets and had approached the SHC to take a decision in this regard.
Petitions filed in the court stated that the IGP was being targeted because the provincial government was not happy with him over several issues relating to the recruitment of constables without merit and suspension of police officers.
It merits mention here that IGP Khawaja was born in a family of traders in Tando Mohammed Khan. He became the Sindh IGP in March 2016 after the post was vacated by then IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali, who had to resign after being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau regarding misappropriation of police funds.
