Sindh Police rise in defiance against Pakistan Army

New Delhi/Islamabad : In a major show of open defiance against Pakistan Army, police officers in Karachi have threatened to go on mass leave after the Sindh Police chief was allegedly kidnapped and coerced to act against PML(N) Vice President Marayam Nawaz Sharif.

Sources in Islamabad said that Pakistan is rapidly slipping into a civil war-like situation with the ongoing tussle between the opposition parties and the Army.

In Karachi in Sindh province, headed by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the Sindh Police in a major show of defiance against the Pakistan Army have threatened to go on leave after they were pressurised to arrest PML(N) Vice President Marayam Nawaz's husband Safdar Awan.

Sources said that Sindh IGP Mushtaq Mahar and at least two additional inspector generals, seven deputy inspector generals and six senior superintendents of Sindh Police on Tuesday applied for leave in order to "come out of the shock" caused by the "episode of registration of FIR against Capt (R) Safdar".

The Sindh Police on Monday had arrested Safdar Awan, the husband of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and the son-in-law of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, from a hotel in Karachi. The arrest came just hours after the PML(N) Vice President criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan's government at a massive rally of People's Democratic Movement (PDM) -- an alliance of 11 opposition political parties which have joined hands to challenge the Imran Khan government backed by the Pakistan Army. He was later released on bail.

Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has ordered an inquiry into Safdar Awan's arrest after Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari questioned the Army and the ISI about the incident in a tweet.