The Sindh police have stated that they were taking stock of the alleged disorder arising from the additional personnel deployment of Special Protection Unit officers for a Chinese company, which refused to hire more policemen for security.
“The deployments and appointments of the officers are a routine part of the security measures being taken,” the provincial police spokesperson said on Sunday.
The clarification comes after a video of policemen being “stranded” outside the foreign company’s office in Karachi three weeks ago went viral on social media. As many as 250 policemen, comprising officers from the Counter Terrorism Department and the SIU, were brought from the Hyderabad training centre, according to reports.
One of the policemen could be heard in the video saying that the department could have called a few officers instead of a big deployment.
They had to spend the night on DHA streets as no line officers were attending to their phone calls, according to another policeman.
China Shipbuilding Trading Company’s June 14 letter to the DIG also came to light on Sunday. At least three policemen were deployed at the CTSC representative office in Karachi’s DHA Phase V area to provide escort.
“Under your strong command, these three policemen are performing well in the last few years and we are satisfied with their services. Thus we would like to keep the current arrangement and there is no demand to request extra police escorts,” it said.
The company mentioned that a separate letter would be written to the DIG in case of further need.
In their statement, the police noted that both local and international institutions have expressed “full confidence” in the performance and capabilities of the CTD. They emphasised that while the media report may have presented a “one-sided perspective or the reporter’s own opinions, it would have been prudent to seek the stance of the responsible Sindh Police authorities before publishing the story on such sensitive national security matters.”
It called for conducting thorough investigations and fact-checking before reporting on issues related to the postings and transfers of police officers, in order to uphold the principles of responsible journalism and ethical standards.
“No officer has been sent [Karachi] for any form of punishment,” CTD DIG Asif Ijaz Sheikh said in a separate statement.
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He claimed that the media reports lacked truthfulness in their portrayal of the situation involving CTD officers.
The officers who were previously deployed had been sent for training and a team from the CTD was temporarily assigned to cover their positions for 15 days, he said and added that the situation was being portrayed as if the officers were being punished, which is not the case.
CTD DIG Sheikh assured that all the officers who were sent for the temporary assignment will return to the department within 15 days.
