KARACHI: Terming it “discriminatory and unnecessary politicisation” of an administrative matter, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to immediately recall Inspector General of Police Dr Syed Kaleem Imam and post the officer agreed upon at a meeting between the two on Jan 27 or any other officer from the panel of five proposed by the provincial government.

In his third letter written to the prime minister just two days ago, CM Shah drew his attention towards their discussions on the issue starting from their meeting on Dec 23, 2019 and continued till Jan 27 punctuated by telephonic conversations of Mr Shah with the PM and his staff.

“I would like to add that the consultative process provided under the law had been completed stricto sensu when we reached an agreement during our last meeting at Governor House, Sindh on 27.01.2020 and federal government had to notify a new IGP Sindh.

The CM writes another letter to the premier asking him to recall Kaleem Imam and post a new police chief

“The matter was placed before the [federal] cabinet yesterday. Later, through the press conference of the federal spokesperson, televised the same day, it was learnt that federal cabinet has decided that Sindh IGP’s posting will be decided after mutual consultation between Honourable Governor Sindh and myself,” stated Mr Shah in the letter.

“This seems to be discriminatory and unnecessary politicization of an administrative matter. If you would recall the manner in which posting of IGPs/PPOs of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was decided in the recent past, you will notice that requests of the governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were given preferential treatment and [they were] not referred to the federal cabinet. On the contrary, our request has been placed before the federal cabinet.

“I must also add here that federal government notified IGPs/PPOs of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa quite promptly, while the request of Sindh has been dragged over a month despite the fact that we made a compelling case against the incumbent.”

Mr Shah said the federal cabinet’s decision “is in conflict with the minutes of 1993 meeting, commonly referred to as the ‘Agreement’ between federal and provincial governments.

“Posting of IGP, per these minutes, is a matter that needs to be decided after consultation between federal and provincial governments. Honourable Governor is not part of the federal or provincial government. Bringing in the Honourable governor in decision-making process of the government(s) violates the constitutional dignity of his office and is not desirable at all.”

The chief minister wrote: “You [PM] will appreciate that we started the process of proposing the panel of officers after you advised me to do the same during our meeting on 23.12.2019. I called the Sindh cabinet’s meeting on 15.01.2020 and they unanimously decided to approach the federal government for recalling the incumbent IGP and proposed a panel of three officers for the post, which was communicated to the establishment division. Later, I was informed by PSPM to add two more names to the panel, which I did after endorsement of Sindh cabinet. Subsequently, in our meeting on 27th January, 2020, we mutually agreed upon one of the five names and you had very kindly told me that it will be announced and notified on the same day.”

CM Shah told the PM that the notification of the new IGP was being delayed unnecessarily.

“The incumbent IGP, Mr Kaleem Imam, has been further emboldened in his reckless attitude. Now he is mocking the provincial government publicly. This not only embarrasses the provincial government but will also estrange the relationship of the people of this province with the federal government. The people of this province are raising discriminatory attitude of federal government towards government of Sindh,” he stated.

“I once again urge to recall Mr Kaleem Imam immediately and post the officer agreed upon on 27th January, 2020 or any other officer from the panel of five officers proposed by government of Sindh, communicated to establishment division, government of Pakistan on 22nd January, 2020,” Mr Shah concluded.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2020