KARACHI, Jan 9: The somewhat low-key transfers of the two top provincial officials responsible for the maintenance of law and order across the province seem to indicate that the government is responding, albeit mutedly, to the overwhelming public demand for rolling of heads over the eruption of violent riots following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27.
The proverbial axe fell first on the much-maligned head of the Sindh home secretary, Ghulam Mohammad Mohtaram, on Tuesday. A retired brigadier, Mr Mohtaram headed the provincial office of the Military Intelligence before he became home secretary. Such was Mr Mohtaram’s handling of the May 12 violence in Karachi that deposed Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany of the Sindh High Court once angrily told him in courtroom that he was not fit to be even a low-ranking official of the bureaucracy.
The Sindh Inspector-General of Police, Ziaul Hasan Khan, got his marching orders on Wednesday. A retired major, Mr Khan obtained the much-coveted post after filing a reference against the then suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. A member of an active political family from Punjab, he kept a low profile in the city and did not bother to explain why police made no effort to control arsonists and rioters as a wave of frenzied looting swept through the province.
While it is being said that a clutch of town police officers will also meet the same fate, it is unclear why no action is being taken against the Rangers. They, too, did very little on Dec 27 and the following three days. The last time they earned accolades from the people of Karachi was when they controlled traffic during the monsoon rains. A burden on the province’s exchequer, they seem to be more proficient in other assignments – like running the multi-million water tanker network – than law enforcement.
It is also unclear why the city police chief is being allowed to replace the IG. Under his inspiring leadership, the Karachi police remained powerless to stop saboteurs from setting fire to public and private property and robbing at gunpoint motorists stuck in gridlock on Dec 27.
