The Police & The PPP

By Amir Zia 
Monday, July 14, 2014 
The News 

As the PPP’s onslaught on the police continues, there is not a single voice being raised by any of the elected representatives that calls for giving operational autonomy and independence to the force. One hardly sees any light at the end of the tunnel as the PPP, its ally the MQM and the opposition in the Sindh Assembly all appear on the same page in keeping the police hostage to the political bosses. Democracy’s revenge continues... 

Why did the PPP-led provincial government fire Inspector General of Sindh Police Iqbal Mehmood? There were no formal corruption charges against him. He was also not accused of any irregularity or of violating the law. He was mentally and physically fit to lead the police force – perhaps more fit than the ageing Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who crossed retirement age long ago, but by the grace of the Almighty, is still considered fit as a fiddle by former president Asif Ali Zardari and his close associates.
Then why was IG Iqbal Mehmood removed so unceremoniously? This is the question that should be asked by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. This is the question that should haunt every concerned Pakistani who is opposed to corruption and wants to see rule of law in the country. 
Mehmood’s ‘crime’ was not corruption, but his refusal to be part of a controversial deal for the purchase of substandard, but costly armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and other equipment for his force.
In fact, the story of this proposed shady deal starts in 2012 when a PPP stalwart – who obviously is a close friend of former president Zardari – started pushing for it, but failed to get it materialised because of some stiff resistance from within the Sindh Police and objections from the National Accountability Bureau.
The Sindh government wanted to bypass all procedural requirements for this deal, which was initially for the purchase of sixteen B-7 plus type of APCs from a Serbian company at a whopping cost of Rs1.24 billion. According to the initial purchase plan, three of these APCs were eight wheelers, while were 13 four wheelers.
The provincial authorities even signed a memorandum of understanding, but the plan was shelved because of public hue-and-cry and objections from NAB about the lack of transparency in this whole affair. Even a committee headed by the then Sindh home secretary advised the political leadership to scrap the plan.
But trust the PPP’s consistency, determination and ingenuity at least when it comes to striking contentious business transactions that it managed to revive the stalled process.
On February 7, the ruling party and their ‘partners in crime’ – the so-called opposition – passed the Sindh Emergency Procurement Bill 2014 in the provincial assembly; this sets aside the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s (PPRA) rules for one year for emergency purchases for the Karachi police. 
Now armed with this new law, the Sindh government resumed efforts to close the deal, which reportedly swelled to Rs8.0 billion as the purchasing order now also includes bulletproof jackets and other equipment. But Sindh Police Chief Iqbal Mehmood refused to ‘cooperate’ on grounds of the high costs and reservations about the specification and standards of the equipment.
Our efficient Sindh Chief Minister, who has a reputation of going an extra mile to follow the biddings of the former president and his close friends, removed the last hurdle in this deal by sacking IG Mehmood. 
Willy-nilly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also had to go along with this decision during his recent visit of Karachi though he told the provincial leadership that the frequent changes in the police command is damaging for the ongoing operation against terrorists and criminals.
Now the Sindh government is trying to bring such an officer as IG Sindh who can ensure that the controversial deal sails through. The federal government is likely to look the other way because of its understanding with Zardari’s PPP that the country’s two main political forces won’t try to upset each other’s apple carts.
Interestingly, the Sindh government has demanded money from the federal government to purchase another 40 APCs. It is anybody’s guess which company is likely to get the purchase order.
The saga of the PPP’s passion for a deal with the Serbian company gets more twisted with reports that the same PPP stalwart is the local partner of the Serbian company for tractor manufacturing. These tractors will be given to the poor and rich farmers of this province through the provincial government’s very own Sindh Bank.
Iqbal Mehmoods, Shahid Hayats and all such police officers hold little chance to perform their duties when our so-called legislators and democrats are themselves working against the system. Their pit of greed is limitless; and the rot of corruption embedded too deep.
Should we be astonished then that the Sindh provincial government fired another IG Police within months of his assuming charge? Should we be shocked that Mehmood’s only crime was that he opposed a controversial deal?
With this latest dismissal of the IG Sindh, the PPP provincial government has now achieved the unprecedented distinction of sacking more than a dozen officers from this position during its six years of uninterrupted rule. The reasons for these removals, transfers and sackings have never been professional. All these officers were shown the door because they refused to cross certain red-lines and dance at every tune of the PPP bosses.
It is now no more news that the average term of an IG in Sindh lasts for just five to six months. The tenure of the Karachi police chief, another sought after, but highly risky position, is on average only 12 weeks – half the period than that of the IG. During the last 20 months or so, Karachi has welcomed and bid farewell to at least six officers on this coveted slot.
Under this golden democratic era of the PPP, the shelf life of other officers including DIGs, SSPs, DSPs and SHOs is even shorter at any given position. The term of SHOs on average has been reduced to less than a month now – so much for the much-talked about mantra of consistency and continuity. All these frequent transfers and posting are not made in an attempt to improve the efficiency of the police, but to tame its officers and men further into submitting to the politicians.
The PPP has moved to destroy the Sindh Police by snatching away the powers of transfer of grade 18 and 19 officers from the IG Sindh and placing it with the chief secretary. This is the latest anomaly introduced by the PPP in the system. It means that those District Management Group officers are making key decisions of transfers and postings in the police at the behest of their political bosses who even do not know their men or the requirements of the policing job. The powers to transfer and appoint grade 20 and above officers already rest with the provincial government.
The move has further compromised the police force and made its officers hostage to the whims and wishes of the provincial government. Yes, since the return of ‘true and pure’ democracy in the country, the wheel is going backwards.
The elected representatives were quick to scrap the Police Order of 2002 in favour of the colonial-era Police Act of 1861. The Musharraf-era Police Order gave a fixed three-year term to senior police officers, who could only be removed if found guilty of corruption or irregularity.
But our so-called democrats want a subservient police force. Instead of granting the police operational independence and autonomy as is done in all civilised nations, the PPP bosses have taken away whatever little independence existed before.
No wonder that the much-needed police reforms are not even on the agenda of the elected representatives as they see any such move will hurt their own narrow vested interests.
The PPP’s relentless efforts to dominate the police have indeed further compromised the force’s effectiveness and operational capabilities. When police officers feel insecure on their positions all the time, they can hardly concentrate on fighting crime and terrorism on a mid- to long-term basis.
As the PPP’s onslaught on the police continues, there is not a single voice being raised by any of the elected representatives that calls for giving operational autonomy and independence to the force. One hardly sees any light at the end of the tunnel as the PPP, its ally the MQM and the opposition in the Sindh Assembly all appear on the same page in keeping the police hostage to the political bosses. Democracy’s revenge continues…