The Sindh Police (Urdu: سندھ پولیس, Sindhi: سنڌ پوليس), is a law enforcement agency established in 1843 under a proclamation issued by Sir Charles Napier, who became the conqueror of the State of Sindh by defeating the forces of the Talpur rulers at the Battle of Miani near Hyderabad on 20 March 1843.
Ever since its inception, the organization was raised on the model of the Royal Irish Constabulary to maintain law and order and law enforcement in Sindh, Pakistan. The department serves an area of ~140,914km2 and has about 280,000 police officers and staff to serve in the department. Riffat Mukhtar is the current Inspector-General of Police, appointed in August 2023.
The Sindh Police has been fictionalized as well as dramatized in numerous movies, novels, dramas, and television shows through its history.[2]
History
After becoming the Governor of Sindh, General Sir Charles Napier established a policy system based on the pattern of the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1843. British Indian Army Officers closely supervised and controlled the force which was consequently more disciplined, efficient and less corrupt. Influenced by the success of Napier's police, the Court of Directors of the East Bangladesh Company suggested that a common system of police be established on the pattern of the Irish Constabulary.
The British Indian Government set up a Police Commission headed by Mr. H.M.Court in 1860. One of the policy directives to the Police Commission of 1860 was that "though the duties of the police should be entirely civil, not military, the organization and discipline of the police should be similar to those of a military body". The present police system in Pakistan has been established under this Charter. At the time of the British Indian Police there was a famous Superintendent of Police from Pirdad (Hazro) in Punjab named Muhammad Umar Khan, who was much decorated.[3]
In October 2010 the government announced that Sindh Police had been given the approval to use and had received equipment to utilise phone-tracking technology to help them tackle kidnapping cases and corruption on the streets of Karachi.[4]
Senior Superintendent of Police/Assistant Inspector General
SSP/AIG
BPS-20
Deputy Inspector General
DIG
BPS-21
Additional Inspector General
Addl. IG
BPS-22
Inspector General of Police
IGP
Posts
SHO, SDPO, DPO, CPO, RPO and PPO are posts, not ranks. So you may see a lower rank acting as a higher post for some time.[5]
Special Security Unit
The Special Security Unit (SSU) is one of the specialized counterterrorism and security units of the Sindh Police. It performs the function of counterterrorism operations and provide security to important personalities and institutions. It is a Karachi based unit of the Sindh Police, Pakistan and its operational jurisdiction extends to entire area of Sindh. The SSU was established due to the increased security and counterterrorism challenges in the country. It meets the international standards of counterterrorism training and has been directed to deal with the terrorist intimidations. The unit reports to IG Sindh and DIGP Security Mr. Lt (r) Maqsood Ahmed is the founding head of the unit.[6]
Composition and Organization
Central Police Office (CPO), Karachi serves as headquarter of Sindh Police where Inspector General of Police, Sindh sits. All main administrative branches of Sindh police such as Investigation, Finance and Establishment branch are also headquartered at CPO Karachi. When it comes to operational jurisdiction, Sindh Police is divided into three ranges. Each range is headed by Additional Inspector General of Police (Addl.IGP). Each range in return is consisted of one to three regions/divisions that are headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police(DIG). These divisions are consisted of 3 to 7 districts that are led by an officer with a rank of Senior Superintendent of Police. Currently Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Karachi East, West and South are the ranges of Sindh Police that are being led by DIGP rank police officials.
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Activities
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The Sindh Police has been actively involved in taking bribe with open hands in daylight. countering human trafficking, drug trade, solving criminal cases (such as murder and abduction).
Controversies
Extra-Judicial Killings Reported in Media by Sindh Police
IG Sindh appointment
The Government of Pakistan, in consultation with the Governor of Sindh, appointed Mushtaq Ahmad Mahar as Inspector General of Police, replacing Syed Kaleem Imam at the request of Sindh's provincial government due to his perceived insubordination and failure to control increasing crime rates in Karachi.[9][10]
Mazar-e-Quaid incident
The Pakistan Democratic Movement conducted a large political rally in the port city of Karachi near the Mazar-e-Quaid on October 18, 2020. During the rally, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif addressed the leader of the Pakistani Army, saying, "General Qamar Javed Bajwa, you packed up our government, which was working well, and put the nation and the country at the altar of your wishes." This speech was censored when broadcast by Pakistani media on the government's orders.[11] Some news analysts believed that Sharif's open criticism of Bajwa was unlikely to be taken lightly.[12]
That night, officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistan Rangers allegedly abducted Inspector General Mahar and forced him to sign an order to arrest prominent opposition leader Muhammad Safdar Awan, Sharif's son-in-law, for "violating the sanctity of Quaid's mausoleum" during the rally.[13] The sequence of events, according to Al Jazeera, was that federal intelligence agencies grew frustrated because they were unable to immediately arrest Safdar, so they sent nine paramilitary Ranger vehicles to Mahar's house at 4am on October 19 to bring him to a meeting with the sector commander, where they demanded that he authorise Safdar's arrest.[11] Awan was released on bail the same day.[13]
To protest this treatment, Mahar and other senior officials in the Sindh police department applied for leave en masse, though they subsequently relented when Qamar Javed Bajwa, the head of Pakistani armed forces, ordered an inquiry into the incident.[14][15][16][17][18][11][19][excessive citations] The Federal Minister of Information, Shibli Faraz, called this protest by the Sindh police a "quasi-mutiny".[20]
According to former Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hassan Khan, the events were a series of blunders. He said that Safdar's behavior at the mausoleum was inappropriate and could be considered a legal offence, but not a cognizable one, meaning that his arrest should have been preceded by a court warrant. He condemned the abduction and intimidation of Mahar.[19][20][21] According to Al Jazeera, while all the reports of Mahar's mistreatment were unlikely to be true, such behavior on the part of federal intelligence officials amounted to coercion. Mazhar Abbas of thenews.com.pk reported that Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan considered the kidnapping and its aftermath to be media-created hype and a non-issue, laughing over the incident.[22][23][24]
Impact and legacy
According to Mazhar Abbas, the issues raised by such intra-institutional conflict and the unprecedented police revolt are unlikely to be resolved quickly.[23] Three inquiries were made, one by the head of the armed forces, another by a committee of the Sindh provincial government,[25] and a third, limited one by the federal government. The Civil Society filed a petition in Pakistan's Supreme Court seeking to restrain the federal government and its armed agencies from illegitimate interference in provincial autonomy.[26]
As per a[27] report by an inquiry conducted on the orders of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Mahar was not kidnapped but "summoned overzealously" since the ISI and Pakistan Rangers were allegedly under great public pressure.[28] As per the recommendations of same inquiry, the ISI and Ranger officials concerned in the incident were removed from any ongoing assignments that might cause misunderstandings with the Sindh Police.[28]
The Sindh Police is not known to use any aircraft; however, there have been rumours that the police use locally produced UAVs such as the SATUMA Jasoos, for reconnaissance.
Police Hospitals in Sindh
Sindh Police Hospital Garden Karachi
Regional Police Hospital Hyderabad
Regional Police Health Center Sukkur
Citizens Police Liaison Committee
The Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) (Urdu: شہری پولیس رابطہ پنچائیت) is a public-private relationship, self-funding, Non-Political Statutory organization, established under a notification by the Sindh government. The CPLC provides relief and technical support to victims of crime. Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim established the Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) in 1989, while Jameel Yusuf was its founding chairman. The CPLC works in Karachi and assists citizens in registering the (FIR) if it is refused by police for some reason.
The public takes initiative as a volunteer and report the failing law and order situations to the law enforcement agencies to achieve its objectives.[29][30]
Organization structure
CPLC is distributed among 6 district offices in Karachi, one district office at Hyderabad, decided to establish a district office in Sukkur, where as its main office is located in the Governor House Sindh.[31] A Police core group was established by the IGP Sindh to cooperate among Police and the citizens.[32]
CPLC had previously Ahmed Chinoy as its chief and new chief Zubair Habib has been appointed as a new chief of CPLC.[33]
CPLC has established 1102 as its help-line.[34]Makhdoom Ali Khan was member of the Advisory Board of the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC).
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