Question of the state writ in Sindh!

What made the incumbent Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah different from his predecessor Qaim Ali Shah was his quality as an administrator. He has already made an impact as an energetic chief executive, but what he did on Friday also showed his quality as the man who also intends to establish his writ. Within only few hours, he resolved the issue of the arrest of the leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly, Khwaja Izharul Hasan.

The write of the state is generally missing for long, but it is the worst when it comes to Sindh. Some officials in police and also in the intelligence agencies often consider themselves above the law. In the past, they had even not implemented orders of the superior judiciary.

So, what Murad Ali did on Friday should have been done by IGP Sindh AD Khwaja himself even before the CM’s action. No matter how good Rao Anwar is as a police officer, as praised by the IGP, the fact remains that there’s a clear contradiction in his claims. Firstly, his force never went for the arrest of Khwaja Izhar, as was clear from his first statement; and secondly, he led the search without any search warrants or arrest warrants.

It was typical of ‘Rao Anwar Special’. He did the same when he surprisingly got the custody of Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar when his bail was rejected in Dr Asim case.

Within a few hours, Rao Anwar got his custody in the May-12, 2007 case, which before his arrest was dormant. From Central Prison Karachi, he took him in custody, something unprecedented, but then it was Rao’s Special.

CM Murad Ali knew him for long, more since the days of his father, the late Chief Minister Abdullah Shah, who led 1994-96 police operation and many of MQM alleged militants were killed in ‘extrajudicial encounters’. Rao Anwar earned the reputation of an encounter specialist, during that period.

So, what Shah did on Friday was to establish his writ and passed a strong message to all such officers that this is not 1994-96, but 2016.

He initiated the action even before he got a call from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was disturbed at the manner in which MQM leader was handcuffed, his faced was covered and without any search warrants his house was searched and nothing was found.

It was a test case for the chief minister, and he was annoyed because when he inquired from the IGP Sindh, even he had no knowledge of it. “Is this officer above the law,” a source close to the CM told the writer quoting him as saying. “Suspend him immediately,” the angry CM said.

He did not stop there but asked for the whole record of cases against Khwaja Izhar. He went through it and then ordered for his release.

He has already initiated an inquiry against SSP Rao Anwar, despite facing pressure from different quarters. The inquiry includes his misconduct, holding post-suspension press conference, threat to resign and warning the government about ‘side-effects’ in case action against him is not withdrawn.

The question is from where he was drawing this strength, using the language of a political leader. In the past, he had enjoyed close links with top PPP leadership, but has a special ‘hate relationship’ with the MQM since early 90s.

So, it was very important for the new CM to act in a different way and give a message not only to him but also to some others that ‘this Shah is different’.

His government’s writ had come under question from this action because firstly, Rao Anwar is an SSP like any other SSP. He was not head of any agency, who can act without any jurisdiction. So, he should have taken into confidence, if no one else, but the SSP Central, from whose jurisdiction he had arrested Khwaja Izharul, although earlier his claim was that he was looking for former MQM sector In-charge Raees Mama.

Within hours, Rao Anwar even termed Khwaja Izhar the chief of target-killers. Interestingly, in Rangers file, he has not been suspected in any such case, yet.

About a year back, the Rao Anwar Special caused sensation when he unearthed a ‘Jinnahpur’-like conspiracy and arrested some MQM activist, which he claimed were from MQM’s South Africa wing. It would be interesting to see the outcome of that case.

A text message of a senior police officer said after Rao Anwar’s episode: “Hundreds arrest, no conviction”.

What Murad Shah earned from his prompt action on Friday was goodwill, not only from the MQM leadership but also from cross sections of society. He also acted as the custodian of the assembly, which normally is the speaker.

Earlier, Shah had even played a role in securing the release of Dr Farooq Sattar, when he was forcibly taken away by the Rangers on the night of August 22.

When Murad was elected as the chief minister of Sindh, a journalist asked him, “You are now the new captain of this operation”, and he had replied, “I am the chief minister”, and never used title of captain, which was often used by his predecessor, Qaim Ali Shah.

Shah is very cautious about the complaints of human rights violations and even has asked his team to bring into his notice if there are any such complaints.

During his brief tenure of less than two months, he has set few good examples and if nothing else, has at least put the otherwise nostalgic bureaucracy of Sindh on alert. What one would like to see him in the next two years is the action and results, not only in Karachi, but also in rest of Sindh.

Rao Anwar perhaps thought that the new CM is as weak as was the previous one, because of his special relations with PPP’s top brass and those sitting in the relevant quarters.

Rao, in the past, survived dozens of inquiries, faced numerous suspension orders, rulings from former chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to ex-chief justice of Sindh High Court, retired Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid. Yet, nothing happened and he is still confident that he would return with a bang.

One wonders what Murad Ali Shah would have done had he been the chief minister, and Dr Asim Hussain, his adviser, would have been arrested without even his knowledge. What he would have done if Rangers and the FIA had raided the Sindh Building Control Authority, taking away 15,000 plot files, which were still missing without any inquiry.

His predecessor, Qaim Ali Shah did protest, both with the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and DG Rangers, but could not get Dr Asim released and return the government files.

Murad, in contrast, passed a message of establishing his writ, by hold meetings of ‘apex committees’, and other such high-level meetings in the CM House rather than at Governor’s House.

What the new CM has not done so far is bringing any meaningful reforms in the Police Department like in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province through an improved form of Police Order 2002 into the Police Act 2016. We are still being run under Police Act 1861.

Shah’s action on Friday could reopen a new chapter in defusing rural-urban divide, if he takes along all the stakeholders of Sindh, without compromising on the rule of law and on Karachi targeted action. We all await other social and economic reforms.

The writer is the senior columnist and analyst of GEO, The News and Jang