The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday ordered the provincial government not to remove Inspector General Allah Dino Khawaja from his post. The court has directed the provincial government not to take any action till January 12. The order was issued after a plaintiff informed the court that the PPP-led Sindh government has sent AD Khawaja on forced leave. The bench issued a stay order after preliminary hearing of the petitions challenging probable removal of IGP A D Khawaja.
The petitioners, which included musician Shehzad Roy, had requested the court to undo the removal of the IG, on the grounds that Khawaja was a respected officer who was sent on forced leave solely because he enforced recruitment into the police force on merit. The petitioners added that it was apparent that Khawaja was being removed permanently after Advisor to the Sindh Chief Minister Saeed Ghani publicly declared that the IG should not be allowed to return to his office under current circumstances.
The court issued notices to Khawaja as well as the federal and provincial governments to appear in court on January 12th, when it intends to resume proceedings. Khawaja's sudden departure on 'leave' gave birth to a suspicion on the continuation of operation against the outlaws in Karachi. Officials describe the IG Sindh Police leave as a political 'manoeuvring' of the Sindh government.
"Khawaja disputed with the PPP-led Sindh government over transfer and postings of police officials. The dispute grew to the extent that made the PPP government to ask him to leave," officials said. The establishment division was expected to send Khawaja back to the federal bureaucracy in a couple of weeks. He is on leave for 15 days. According to the police officials, "Khawaja had outrightly refused to follow the directives of PPP's leaders and asked them to let him work as per the official guidelines of the state." They said that the PPP leaders had wanted Khawaja to facilitate sugarcane supplies to a certain mills in the province against the will of growers, which he had refused to do as such.
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