KARACHI: Friction among officers due to duality of command, interference at micro level, creation of parallel police system through cells for ulterior motives, failure at operational level in some instances resulting in martyrdom of policemen, increase in vice dens and smuggling of items in an organised manner and posting of officers to earn more money were some of the major factors behind the Sindh government’s recent decision to abolish the posts of the additional inspector general (Addl IG) of Hyderabad and Sukkur, respectively.

The offices of the Addl IGs of Hyderabad and Sukkur regions were created in 2019 in a bid to address the issues faced by officers and general public, but it appeared that the objectives were not achieved.

A source said that the spirit behind the decision was to create a supervisory level to ensure closer monitoring of affairs and quick decision-making instead of looking towards the CPO for administrative issues like financial matters, departmental appeals, welfare of force etc.

“It was also expected from the Additional IGP to lead the force from the front in crucial and high-profile operations and carry along the departmental policies and issue policy statements to media to portray the positive efforts of police.”

However, the officials said, the assessment of performance of these offices after two years revealed that the desired results were not achieved.

The posts of Addl IGs of Hyderabad and Sukkur ranges have been re-designated as training and research and development

‘Duality of command causes confusion’

“The situation instead of showing improvement, is presenting a downward trend as far as professional and operational performance vis-à-vis policing is concerned,” said one officer. “At the outset, the creation of the office has diluted the command of DIGPs because of centralisation of powers in the offices of Additional IGPs.”

“The duality of command not only created confusion among subordinate offices but also caused a friction among senior officers who are issuing orders in conflict with each other,” another officer said.

There were charges that the Addl IGs did not only “start interfering into the affairs of the districts at the micro level in the garb of supervision but also started creating specialised cells under their direct command to work in parallel with district police establishments”.

These cells were not created “with an intention to improve law and order situation or crime control but were aimed at creating an unwarranted nuisance at one hand and to pressurize the subordinate units at the other”.

Official papers, reviewed by Dawn, pointed out some cases when the Addl IGPs had developed “conflicts with their subordinate offices, which were not only reflected badly by media but also taken up at various official forums causing embarrassment for the department”.

In the recent past, a special cell of one of the Addl IGs was found involved in “serious corrupt practices and extortion of money from industrial units”.

“This incident was departmentally inquired and was found correct. Instead of improvement, various other cells were created under the guise of providing technical and intelligence support to the districts,” one of the documents said.

In majority of cases, the staff posted in such special cells acted “beyond call of duty and beyond their mandate to create undue pressure on SHOs”.

One such cell — the Regional Crime Control Cell (R3C) — in the Hyderabad region was abolished recently.

The papers alleged that the office of Addl IGs “failed to provide required guidance and support of resources to their subordinates in time to execute serious and high-profile operations”.

“At many instances, IGP Sindh had to travel himself to take the command of the operations, which gained profile due to laxity of senior command present there,” it was said.

Even for the arrest of some proclaimed offenders, the IGP had to travel and conduct meetings with field commanders as well as to engage the media. “The level of supervision as observed during deteriorating law and order situation in Larkana Range especially in Shikarpur district is also very disappointing.”

“A poorly planned operation was carried out resulting in martyrdom of two policemen and a civilian demoralised the police personnel and the senior officers were not available for boosting up their morale and to issue policy statement to media to portray true facts,” according to the official papers.

Spike in organised crime

The Addl IGs’ focus of supervision was “limited to interprovincial routes and check posts, posting of officers of choice to selected police stations and police posts and interference in petty issues of district police”.

“The sad part of state of affairs is the organised vice dens, which have been increased manifold after posting of officers as Additional IGPs in Hyderabad and Sukkur Regions,” said the papers.

There were “persistent reports by Special Branch and other intelligence sources as well as from civil society using social media about the increased activity of menace like gutka, mawa, mainpuri and narcotics”.

“The transportation of smuggled Iranian petroleum products is being operated in an organised manner in various areas and posting of officers on police check posts falling en route is a serious bone of contention between all three tiers i.e. Additional IGP, DIGP and district SSP,” disclosed the papers.

“Posting of SHOs on considerations other than merit encouraged them to grab more money from these vice dens and to please the bosses at various levels by paying hefty amounts received from such dens,” it said.

The officials said that because of such issues it was suggested to abolish the posts of Addl IGPs of Hyderabad and Sukkur and re-designate these offices as Addl IGP-Training and Addl IGP-Research and Development.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021