—Afridi makes late-night visits to Rawalpindi police stations, suspends SHOs
—Former IG calls interior minister’s actions unconstitutional
—Info minister asks bureaucrats to step down if they can’t comply with orders
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is embroiled in yet another controversy after State Minister for Interior Shehryar Afridi’s late-night visits to police stations within Rawalpindi city and suspending station house officers (SHOs) raised questions about the legality of minister’s actions.
In a video circulating on social media, the state minister was seen visiting the New Town police station in Rawalpindi and interacting with minor inmates detained at the station. Reports stated that the four-member minor gang was caught red-handed in a robbery attempt recently.
Moreover, Afridi reached Pir Duhai police station where he listened to the complaints of the inmates over the violation of Punjab Tenancy Act. The minister reportedly reprimanded the police officials.
The interior minister also suspended three police officials, including the station house officer (SHO), for not immediately reaching the station when summoned. The minister also visited the police stations of Ganj Mandi and Ratta Amral and summoned the SHOs at the Interior Ministry next day.
The SHOs reached the office of Rawalpindi Chief Police Officer (CPO) Ahsan Abbas instead and told him about the interior minister’s orders. The CPO went to meet with the state minister and in the two-hour meeting, he successfully convinced Afridi to take back his verbal suspension order.
The CPO said that inquiry has been initiated against the said police officials, adding that the minister was apprised of the issues police is facing in investigating the cases.
Commenting on the incident, former Islamabad inspector general (IG) Tahir Alam said that the action by the state minister was beyond his legal ambit as police is a provincial subject after the 18th amendment.
Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry, however, defended Interior Minister Afridi’s stopovers to the police stations in Rawalpindi and said that the minister was well within his constitutional limits when he made those visits.
Furthermore, the information minister alleged that certain bureaucrats were loyal to the previous government, and had become an interest group within the bureaucracy, trying to resist policy changes by the incumbent government.
“There are now personal interests developed within the bureaucracy and these elements must be removed,” Fawad said.
We have to implement our policies, the information minister said, adding that if bureaucrats don’t approve of the government’s policy, they can step down.
Earlier, the government appointed Amjad Javed Saleemi as Punjab IGP, removing Tahir Khan from the post for not complying to government orders.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had said that Tahir Khan’s failure to follow government orders was the reason behind his removal. “We have given a clear message to the bureaucracy that we want work done,” Chaudhry had said, adding that Tahir Khan had demonstrated a careless attitude towards institutional issues.
