Seventy-three Karachi police officers were suspended on Friday throughout the city’s 43 police stations for completing tasks in plainclothes and as members of special police parties.
Three sub-inspectors, nine assistant sub-inspectors, 15 head constables, and 46 constables have been suspended and ordered to report to the Special Security Unit.
The suspension orders were issued after Karachi’s acting additional inspector general of police, Ghulam Nabi Memon, directed the senior superintendents of police, who are the police chiefs of their respective districts, to prohibit special police parties and plainclothes personnel, as well as to remove station house officers (SHOs) with a shady record.
The decision to prohibit plainclothes police officers was made in the context of the recent assassination of a teenage student in a bogus encounter in the city’s Orangi Town neighbourhood.
The Karachi police chief has requested that all district SSPs produce certifications certifying that no special party or plainclothes personnel are functioning in their districts. According to the directive, SSPs shall also dismiss any SHOs from their respective police stations who have allegedly negative personalities.
Arsalan, a 16-year-old kid, was shot dead and his buddy was injured by a police unit in Orangi Town on the night of December 6. Later, however, the SHO of Orangi Town was suspended, and two persons, including a police officer, were detained on murder and terrorist accusations.
The suspended officers are stationed at the city’s 43 police stations: District Central has ten police stations: Sharifabad, Gulbahar, Rizvia Society, New Karachi, Bilal Colony, Sir Syed, Federal B Industrial Area, Jauharabad, Taimuria, and Hyderi; District West has six police stations: Orangi Town, Mominabad, Pakistan Bazaar, Iqbal Market, and Surjani Town; District South has six police stations: Preedy, Clifton, Boat Basin, Darakhs