Is Sindh Being Pushed Towards Governor Rule?

WEB DESK: The dispute between the Federal and Sindh governments is entering in a new phase. There is news that the Governor Sindh Imran Ismail is meeting the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan in Islamabad today, in which according to the sources, various options including Governor Rule in the province will be discussed. 

Since the Pakistan People’s Party has joined Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), new difficulties have arisen for them, although the issue of Governor rule in the province has not come on surface first time but this time it seems more serious.

Actually, this complicated situation started when Maryam Nawaz Sharif came to Karachi with her party members on Pakistan People’s Party invitation to attend a PDM public meeting recently. On the very same day, she visited Mazar-e-Quaid along with her husband Captain (retd) Safdar and workers, where her husband stood in the premises of Mazar-e-Quaid and chanted the party slogans including famous Vote Ko Izzat (Give Respect to Vote).

After this event an FIR was lodged against Maryam Nawaz, her husband Captain Retired Safdar and PML N  workers by a local businessman Waqas, and on the basis of that in the early hours of the next morning when Maryam Nawaz Sharif and her husband were sleeping in a hotel room, the police allegedly raided their room, broke down the door and arrested Captain retired Safdar on charges of desecrating the Quaid’s mausoleum and rioting with the workers.However, the matter did not stop with the arrest of Captain Safdar and became more complicated when a suddenly news came on surface that the senior police officers, including IG Sindh Mushtaq Mahar, were allegedly picked up from their homes and brought to Rangers headquarters, where they were forced to issue the orders to arrest the PML N leader.

The news, which was linked to the province’s top police officers, was initially marred by conflicting reports and controversy, and by same evening, leave applications from those police officers complicated the matter further.

The PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s press conference that same evening confirmed the news in a way, but the matter became more sensitive and complicated after that.In his press conference, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari demanded an inquiry into the matter from the Army Chief and the ISI. Later, Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa had to step in and order an inquiry to prevent the Sindh police from going on mass protest leave. COAS Bajwa telephoned PPP Chaimran Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and assured him of an investigation into the matter, after which all the officers who had applied for leave postponed their decision for ten days and demanded to investigate the matter. This is indeed a unique incident of country’s history, when the top Police officers have given a deadline to the State to investigate the issue.

The question is whether a state institution can ever give any notice to its state structure on any matter. In this regard, when we spoke to former IG Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan, he said that their protest is weak and illogical.

He said that the Sindh police have staged a weak protest by submitting leave application. If they had to protest, only IG Sindh would have gone on a symbolic pension. The leave application and ten days’ notice is unnecessary.

He further said that the police resignation and notice issue have given impression of a clash between the institutions within the country, which can lead us to more chaos.On the other hand, Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz has blamed the PPP for all these events and said that they were behind the issue of leave applications of police officers. Criticizing the opposition, Shibli Faraz said that they wanted conflict between the various institutions of the country in order to gain political advantage by creating unrest in the country.

When contacted the well-known journalist Amir Zia to get an analysis on this whole issue, he said that the PPP government has deeply politicized the Police force in the province. He said that the if the police officers always genuinely care about their top officer then why they did not act when the Sindh government had sent former Inspector General of Sindh Police AD Khawaja home, who was later reinstated from the court.

Aamir Zia further said that the kidnapping story of IG police seems to be a fabricated, the purpose of this act is to defame state institutions.

The question is what will be the outcome of this power struggle between the Federal and the Sindh governments. The clarity will come in the next few days.