Inspector General of Police Sindh AD Khawaja. Photo: File

KARACHI: Sindh's Inspector General of Police (IGP) AD Khawaja on Saturday cancelled all transfers and postings ordered by the Sindh Government from July 7 onward.

A notification issued by the IGP's office directed all officers transferred and posted to new assignments after July 7 to resume their previous duties.

In a verdict passed on Thursday, the Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed the provincial government's order to remove Khawaja as Sindh Police?s top boss.

Sindh IG AD Khawaja to continue on post, rules SHC

IG AD Khawaja had been removed by the provincial govt earlier this year

The two-judge SHC bench also restored the IGP?s powers of transfers and postings within the police department, declaring all postings and transfers carried out in the province after July 7 as illegal. 

The court, on April 3, had dismissed the provincial government?s decision to remove the Sindh police chief after a group of activists approached the SHC challenging his controversial removal.

The legal wrangling between civil rights activists and the Sindh government has ended with the court's orders, but the ruling party remains disgruntled with the verdict.

Appearing on Geo News' program Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath after the verdict was announced, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Saeed Ghani said, "If courts will decide the transfers and postings of IGPs, then the provincial government shouldn't be held accountable for any situation that may arise, for which the Sindh government is constitutionally responsible." 

The senator added that despite no apparent issue with Khawaja's performance as the police chief, the 'uncomfortable relationship' between the IGP and Sindh government higher ups has made it seemingly impossible to maintain a smooth working relationship.  

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Ghani lamented that while on one side, the province's former IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali was removed at the Supreme Court's behest, the SHC has imposed the decision for Khawaja to continue as the IGP on the Sindh government. 

The federal government sacked the Sindh police chief last year on March 12 ? a day after he conceded before the Supreme Court that illegal appointments had been made in the police department. 

The apex court gave the provincial government a choice to remove the police chief either during the inquiry or after it. 

Following the court's orders, the federal government on the recommendation of Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah transferred Jamali and appointed Khawaja ? then AIG Special Branch ? as his replacement.