KARACHI: An Enfield rifle from the mid-19th century — its cartridge is said to have started the Indian War of Independence in 1857 — now rests in the office of the man trying to set up Sindh’s first Police Museum.

Former Head­quarters DIG, CID AIG, FIA DG, Karachi CCPO, and above all, a gentleman, Saud Mirza, sits in his office — a restored quarter of a pre-Partition building at the force’s Garden Headquarters in what was formerly known as Souter Lines.

Photographs of Pope Paul II’s visit to Karachi, and of officers graduating from the police academy in Nasik in the 1930s, as well as sketches of the evolution of police uniforms and many other images from private collections line the office of the retired police officer. He talks about the police force, which he joined in 1980.

“The Sindh police has a very glorious history,” he says. “At one point in time, I think it was the 1850s, it was declared the best police force in the subcontinent.” The museum, he explains, is something he has wanted to set up for years but was unable to because of work commitments. However, with the patronage of former Sindh IG Babar Khattak, the idea has started to take root.

“We want children and young people to know the history of the Sindh police,” says Mr Mirza. “There is a need to present a softer image of the police.”

Mr Mirza and his trusted men, Zulfiqar Rashidi, Inspector Shamim, and Aftab, are transforming the gallery of one of the oldest buildings in Police Lines into a museum. With some help from the Sindh government, they have restored the floor, the ceiling tiles — some of which date back to 1863 — and an auditorium. On display in the gallery, which can accommodate 30 to 40 people, they have century-old rifle-holders, information boards, and mannequins wearing different uniforms of the Sindh police over the years — these are copies made from photographs, paintings and sketches. Photographs of several graduating classes, uniformed personnel in 1857, police chiefs with famous leaders, souvenirs from the first police centenary, a sword from 1909 and an armoured personnel carrier from 1977 are also going to be on display.

The Sindh police, according to Mr Mirza, was set up in British India in 1843. “Its architect was Charles Napier. The police force was formed on May 1, 1843, in Sindh and was divided into three districts: Karachi, Hyderabad and Shikarpur. Three lieutenants were designated as superintendents of the police, though in those days the rank was called lieutenant of the police,” he says.

Mr Mirza has done extensive research on the Sindh police by going through old FIRs, police reports, and pre-‘Mutiny’ records of the then Sind commissioner, to name just a few of his sources. However, he says, there is still a lot left to read and research.

Talking about the role of the then Sind police role in 1857 war, the former DIG said that the force played a major role as it disarmed two of the rebelling regiments in Shikarpur and Karachi.

“According to what Napier set up, the police was supposed to be an independent body, governed by its own officers,” he explains. And the real hero of the Sindh police, it seems, was Karachi’s first police chief, E.C. Marston, who became the captain of the force at a very young age.

“The services rendered by the police in 1857 under the command of E.C. Marston of the [then] Sind police in assisting at the suppression of the mutiny of portions of the regular troops at Shikarpoor and Hyderabad in this province and in capturing the fugitives, are well known,” reads one of the many information boards at the site. “In Kurrachee, when in 1857 the 21st Native Infantry [violence] broke out, SP Marston organised the pursuit of those who deserted, and accounted for and brought back, [those] killed and prisoners, 31 out of 32 men.” The man’s salary as the head of the police in Sindh in 1872 was just Rs1,350, with a personal allowance of Rs150.

“The Sindh police was a modern structure at the time it was formed,” says Mr Mirza, adding that it was based on the Irish model. The problems that exist with the force today, he claims, were non-existent then. “One of the reasons we want to establish this museum is to tell schoolchildren, teenagers and adults about this history,” says the former DIG, standing outside the museum.

The museum is set to have a soft launch in a few months and will be open to the public free of cost later in the year.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2017