Sindh police chief, DIGs, AIGs, Karachi CCPO go on leave over Capt Safdar FIR row

KARACHI: Sindh police chief, all DIGs, all ADIGs and Karachi CCPO have reportedly gone on leave following the manner in which an FIR was registered against Capt (r) Safdar, husband of PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz during his visit to the city.

According to a letter making rounds on social media, Sindh Additional IG Special Branch has sought two months of leave.

The AIG said in his letter that “the recent episode of registration of FIR against Capt Safdar the police high command was ridiculed and mishandled and all Sindh police ranks are demoralised and shocked.”

“In such a stressful situation, it is quite difficult for me to discharge my duty in a professional manner,” AIG Imran has said.

He added that he needed 60-day earned leaves to “come out of the shock and settle down”.

Geo News reported that 12-13 other police officers have submitted similar leave requests.

The officers have reportedly said that if their request is not entertained, they will simply stop showing up to their postings.

A day earlier, Sindh Police’s Digital Media Cell had tweeted, then deleted, then tweeted again a statement defending Captain Safdar’s arrest, saying it was done “according to the law”.

The department’s Twitter activity, which indicated that not all was well within the provincial police, had raised eyebrows.

Controversy had already been brewing over the circumstances surrounding Captain Safdar’s arrest, with PML-N representatives claiming that the police had been put under pressure to pick him up.

Retired Captain Safdar — Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law and Maryam Nawaz’s spouse — was arrested in the early hours of Monday by Sindh Police for, among other charges, allegedly violating the sanctity of Quaid-e-Azam’s Mazar (also called Mazar-e-Quaid).

The sanctity of the Quaid’s Mazar is protected by The Quaid-i-Azam’s Mazar (Protection and Maintenance) Ordinance, 1971, which explicitly forbids political activities within the premises of the mausoleum.