THE Sindh Public Service Commission is tasked by the government to receive applications, conduct examinations in a transparent and impartial manner and select the most suitable candidates for jobs.

It also announced 700 vacancies of assistant sub-inspectors BPS-9 in June 2011 under Police Order 2002 Article 7 (3), out of which 334 vacancies were reserved to be filled from amongst graduate head constables/police constables of the Police Department.

Thousands of candidates meeting the criteria set by the commission not only submitted applications, coupled with deposited challan of Rs500 as an application process fee, but also bore other consequential expenditure in this regard.

In October 2012 written call letters were issued only to the police personnel for examination to be conducted by the SPSC. The letters had hardly been issued when it announced through its official website the withdrawal of posts at the behest of additional chief secretary, Home Department, and government of Sindh.

The same posts were again announced through a Sindhi newspaper on Dec 8 by spurning seats reserved for head constable/constable. The advertisement also stipulated that the recruitment process will completely be made by the department concerned. Changing the selection process from the SPSC -- the professional institution in question -- to the department can facilitate political involvement in subsequent appointment at the expense of eligible candidates.

It is a proverbial fact that the entire police department is littered with political involvement which had also influenced the selection process of ASIs conducted by the department in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Even most of the transfers and postings right from ASIs to the seniormost officer have political underpinning. With regard to the fresh appointments, Wajid Ali Durani, the former IGP, Sindh, also admitted in September last year before the Supreme Court that almost all the appointments in the police department were made on a political basis.

The law and order situation in Sindh, including Karachi, is spinning from bad to worse with each receding day, which strangles socioeconomic development in the province. Depoliticisation of the department is one of the most effective catalysts for improving the deteriorating situation.

I request the authorities concerned to assign the process of selection of ASIs to the SPSC or the National Testing System so that the department could be guarded against political involvement and eligible candidates could be appointed.

A. B. NOONARI Shikarpur