Jameel Yousaf’s removal from CPLC was not as sudden as it seemed
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-4-2003_pg7_18
By Sarfaraz Ahmed
KARACHI: The present political set up and growing opposition by the bureaucracy in Sindh, together with bickering among the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee’s (CPLC) operation managers, have caused the removal of its chief, Jameel Yousaf.
Sources told Daily Times on Tuesday that the removal of Mr Yousaf, who was one of the founders of the committee, was not sudden, as the present government and some of his deputy chiefs had been working at it since November last year.
They said Mr Yousaf had called a CPLC meeting on November 21 to seek a vote of confidence from his 13 deputy chiefs, the zonal chiefs of East, Malir, West, Central, South and deputy zonal chiefs of Malir, West, South, East, Central and from the two project chiefs.
A document signed by his successor, then deputy chief Sharifuddin Memon, shows that Mr Yousaf informed the meeting that he knew some chiefs had reportedly requested the Sindh governor to replace him. Mr Yousaf further said the name of former chief Nazim F Haji was being suggested as his replacement. He said he wanted to ascertain whether he enjoyed confidence within the organisation, for which purpose a secret ballot would be held. He said the question on the ballot would be, “Do you have confidence in the continued leadership of Jameel Yousaf as chief of the CPLC?”
Eleven votes were cast in his favour and two against.
Although Mr Yousaf still had the confidence of the overwhelming majority, the two members’ lack of confidence in his leadership was still alarming for him.
Sources said the political alignments that were crystallising in Sindh for a new government as a result of the October 10 elections did not go well for Mr Yousaf. His effective and efficient handling of law and order cases and his growing popularity had made many key bureaucrats hostile to him. The army was the first public agency to actively use the CPLC in 1990. The army had been called into Karachi as an emergency measure to stop the wave of kidnappings. Army teams started using CPLC members, initially for liaison purposes, and later in actual operations against kidnappers. Some members of the CPLC became experts at investigating kidnappings, and this expertise, in turn, made police wiser to the workings of kidnap investigations.
The CPLC was also into computerised data management, although this was not envisaged when the organisation was set up. The CPLC initially lobbied the provincial Excise and Taxation Department (which is now being supervised by Rauf Siddiqui, a minister belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the Sindh government) to computerise its records so that the police could easily verify whether or not a particular vehicle had been stolen, and thus curb car theft. The government agreed to the computerisation and in 1992 the CPLC was provided a parallel online terminal and allowed to download data on a daily basis to assist the police in quick verification of the status of vehicles outside the office hours of the Excise and Taxation Department.
Impressed by the CPLC’s performance in the area of vehicle crime, the federal government entrusted it with the task of setting up a crime record management system for Karachi Police, and partially to fund the project. This cooperation between the federal government and CPLC ensured the cooperation of the provincial government and bureaucracy. The provincial bureaucracy found it difficult to oppose the CPLC because the federal government had a stake in the project. Other key federal government departments, like the Telephone Department, were willing to provide non-exchange lines for this network because the CPLC had been allowed to collect crime statistics under its original mandate. This move towards the setting up of a crime record management system did not encounter any problems of access to information. Similarly, the Economic Affairs Division of the federal government allowed the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to provide technical expertise to the CPLC in setting up a spatial crime analysis system.
In short, there was a gradual building of data processing capability that eventually gave the CPLC advantage in law-enforcement. Sources said the federal government’s patronage of the CPLC despite the fact that law and order was a provincial subject and the support of international agencies were causing much resentment in provincial bureaucrats.
They said the MQM, whose nominee Dr Ishratul Ibad was appointed governor in December, had a lot of complaints about the CPLC and Jameel Yousaf. Investigations carried out by this committee had on numerous occasions gone against the MQM in Karachi’s law and order situation. Some holdovers from the Jam Sadiq era in the early 1990s who were now in the coalition government, had also been exposed by the CPLC in various cases of kidnapping and ransom in the past.
Mr Yousaf, who came under the international spotlight as a crucial witness in Daniel Pearl kidnap-murder case, had become a frequent visitor to international conferences, thereby overshadowing the role and importance of many senior officials responsible for law and order. The federal bureaucracy never welcomed this meteoric rise of Mr Yousaf in the face of a hostile provincial bureaucracy.
His direct contacts with officials investigating attacks on the US consulate general in Karachi and the American embassy in Islamabad were also a source of resentment for many figures of authority in Pakistan. Mr Yousaf’s son Ali married Marvi, the daughter of former information minister Nisar Memon, and there were reports that Mr Yousaf was lobbying for Mr Memon, who is a member of the CPLC’s 12-member advisory board, to become governor. This was hardly something the MQM could appreciate.
The public opinion, by and large, had been quite favourable for Mr Yousaf. Almost all trade bodies and people from other sections of society have protested over his sudden removal. Leading newspapers have run editorials to express their opposition to the government decision.
A senior official of the Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who requested anonymity, had described Mr Yousaf’s removal as discouraging development for investment prospects in the country. According to him, the unceremonious removal of a person who had to his credit a long list of achievements in services to the city and the country did not augur well for government efforts aimed at attracting foreign and domestic investment in the country, particularly Karachi. Asked for his comments, Mr Yousaf said he did not have anything to tell the press.