Photos, vintage arms and medals: Museum in Pakistan’s Karachi pays homage to provincial police

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Updated 28 February 2024
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Photos, vintage arms and medals: Museum in Pakistan’s Karachi pays homage to provincial police

  • Sindh Police Museum tells story of the evolution of the provincial police force since when it was first set up in 1843
  • Police uniforms from different eras, swords, guns and shields, significant police orders and photos are on display

KARACHI: The Sindh Police Museum in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi is housed inside a single-story colonial-era building chock-full of rare artifacts like photos, uniforms, swords and guns that tell the story of the evolution of the provincial police force since when it was first set up in 1843.

The building, itself built in 1865, was turned into a museum in 2019. The photo gallery offers a visual journey into the history of Sindh Police, showing historical events like the guard-of-honor presented to the founder and first governor-general of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The artifacts section showcases police uniforms from different eras as well as swords, vintage communications equipment, medals and ceremonial shields as well as important and interesting orders from General Sir Charles James Napier, the British governor of Sindh. 

One name that repeatedly shows up during a tour of the museum is that of Edward Charles Martson, who was appointed by Sir Napier and served as the head of Sindh Police from 1848 to 1872, transforming it into a model department for other regions in the British-ruled Indian subcontinent.

Creating this museum collection has not been easy, said Shamim Ahmed, the in-charge of the museum.

“We had to search for relatives or descendants of [former] police officers, we searched for them and collected [these things],” he told Arab News in an interview this week. “The documents and files as well as the weapons were collected the same way.”




Old guns used by Sindh Police on display at the Sindh Police Museum in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 26, 2024. (AN photo)

Work on the project was started in 2010 by then Karachi police chief Saud Mirza and his team who sifted through the provincial archives department for almost a year to find important documents relating to the police department, according to the museum in-charge.

“What you’ve seen isn’t complete yet,” he told Arab News. “There are still some sections that we need to develop further.”

For now, the museum offers a glimpse into the history of the mounted and rural police force that helped maintain order in rural parts of Sindh as well as of the city police unit that now manages Karachi, the provincial capital and commercial hub of Pakistan.

One of the most interesting aspects of the display are colonial-era police reports written in the local Sindhi language. One, dated Jan. 3, 1883, narrates the tale of Umar Jaro, a resident of Sindh’s Thatta district, whose cherished cow was stolen and who rallied a seasoned tracker, locally called ‘jhogi’ or ‘puggy,’ and teamed up with Constable Bachal Shah of the British-era Sindh Police to track the culprit’s footprints and finally nail him at a house near Hyderabad.

Zulfiqar Rashidi, a former member of the core team that worked on the museum project, said British police officers deputed in Sindh had to pass a compulsory Sindhi language exam to show that they would be able to successfully police the area where people mostly communicated in the native language.

While the provincial police have modernized and received new weapons and training to combat crime, the language used in official documents remains the same, Rashidi said. 

“The columns of the FIR [first information report], whether old or new, show no significant changes. Look at the terms like location of incident, reporting time, time of occurrence, number of people involved, what was stolen, all these elements have remained consistent throughout,” Rashidi said, comparing Jaro’s 1883 police report with recent ones.

“Since our Sindh Police has a history, and quite an old one, all the records and information about the police, from the past to the present, have been gathered,” museum in-charge Ahmed said as he turned the pages of a compilation of old police documents.

“If we didn’t preserve them by establishing a police museum, all these things would have been lost in 20-25 years. No one would have any knowledge about these things.”
 


Pakistani province probes alleged sale of UNICEF-tagged soap for anti-polio campaign

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Pakistani province probes alleged sale of UNICEF-tagged soap for anti-polio campaign

  • The development comes days after officials seized over 200 UNICEF-tagged soap bars from Peshawar market
  • UNICEF’s communication specialist did not respond to multiple queries seeking a comment on the matter

PESHAWAR: Authorities in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province are probing the alleged sale of soap bars, which were provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the country’s campaign against polio, at a market in Peshawar, officials said on Friday.

The comments came after the seizure of over 200 soap bars at the Faqeerabad market in the provincial capital, which bore the “not-for-sale” marking, according to Additional Assistant Commissioner Azimullah Mehsud.

The local administration acted on a tip-off about UNICEF-tagged soap bars being “diverted” to the open market. A preliminary investigation suggested the consignment originated in the southern Sindh province.

Authorities arrested a shopkeeper on June 25, who was selling these soap bars on Facebook and in the local market in the northwestern Pakistani city.

“According to initial investigations, he [the suspect] told us that they got this supply [of soaps] from Sindh,” Mehsud told Arab News. “The person we have arrested told us he gives this [to people] on Facebook marketplace and said, ‘I’m an Afghan national’.”

This handout photo, released by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor’s focal person for polio Tariq Habib, shows UNICEF-tagged soap bars allegedly recovered after a raid at the Faqeerabad market in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 25, 2025. (Handout)

Mehsud said the authorities recovered three cartons during the raid, with a total of 216 soap bars. He said the suspect claimed to have additional stock.

“Here people used to buy [a soap bar] from him at a cost of Rs40 or Rs45 and then used to change its packaging at Rs3, and then [they were] being supplied to Jalalabad, Afghanistan and here in Pakistan, I think, including D.I. Khan and many other places,” he said.

“When we contacted him, he [suspect] told us to come tomorrow and he will arrange 3,000 more [soap bars] for us. Then we told the anti-corruption to locate the link to his network.”

Arab News reached out to UNICEF’s communication specialist, Zia-ur-Rehman, but did not receive a response to its queries seeking comment on the matter.

Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure, making prevention through vaccination critical. After a significant decline over the past decades, Pakistan witnessed an intense resurgence of the poliovirus in 2024, with 74 cases reported. According to Pakistan’s polio program, the country has reported 13 cases of the virus so far this year.

This handout photo, released by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor’s focal person for polio Tariq Habib, shows UNICEF-tagged soap bars allegedly recovered after a raid at the Faqeerabad market in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 25, 2025. (Handout)

The KP anti-corruption department plans to send an open letter to UNICEF and the Sindh provincial administration to further investigate the matter.

Humayun Khan, the Peshawar circle officer of the anti-corruption department, confirmed to Arab News that his department had launched an investigation into the case.

“It [investigation] will go ahead properly with a procedure,” he said. “It will take time.”


Suicide attack kills 13 soldiers in Pakistan’s northwest — officials

Updated 28 June 2025
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Suicide attack kills 13 soldiers in Pakistan’s northwest — officials

  • The attack injured 29 others, including civilians, in North Waziristan district 
  • Hafiz Gul Bahadur group of the Pakistan Taliban claimed the suicide attack

PESHAWAR: A suicide attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban killed 13 soldiers and wounded 29 people, including civilians, local government officials and police officers told AFP.

“A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a military convoy. The blast killed 13 soldiers, injured 10 army personnel and 19 civilians,” said a local government official in North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“The explosion also caused the roofs of two houses to collapse, injuring six children,” a police officer posted in the district told AFP.

The condition of four injured soldiers is critical, an administrative official added.

The attack was claimed by the suicide bomber wing of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban.

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing its western neighbor of allowing its soil to be used for attacks against Pakistan — a claim the Taliban deny.

Around 290 people, mostly security officials, have been killed in attacks since the start of the year by armed groups fighting the government in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.


Rescuers search for three missing persons 24 hours after flash floods in Pakistan’s Swat

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Rescuers search for three missing persons 24 hours after flash floods in Pakistan’s Swat

  • The deluges swept away 17 people, of whom 11 were killed and three were rescued
  • The ongoing wet spell has delayed arrival, departure of several trains in the country

ISLAMABAD: Rescuers are still searching for three people who were swept away by flash floods in the Swat river in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, an official said on Saturday, 24 hours after the tragic incident.

Flooding in the river swept away 17 people early Friday, of which three were rescued and bodies of 11 others were recovered, according to KP Rescue 1122 officials. The victims and survivors were tourists who reportedly hailed from Punjab and KP provinces.

The operation to find the three missing persons has been ongoing for the last 24 hours, according to Shah Fahad, director-general of the provincial rescue service.

“Rescue 1122 operation is currently underway in different areas of Swat, including Khwaza Khela, Kabal Bypass and Barikot,” Fahad said in a statement. “More than 120 personnel of Rescue 1122 are engaged in relief activities.”

Flooding in the province has also damaged 56 houses, six of which were destroyed, the KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority said on Friday.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned that the risk of heavy rains and possible flash floods will remain high until at least Tuesday.

The ongoing spell of rains has also killed nearly a dozen people in the eastern Punjab province and delayed the arrival and departure of trains in Sindh province in the south.

Babar Raza, a spokesperson for Pakistan Railways, told Arab News the weather conditions had affected the railway signaling system, while the speed of trains had also been deliberately reduced for the sake of passenger safety.

“As a result, some trains are reaching their destinations with a delay of three to four hours,” he said. “No trains have been canceled so far.”

Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its 240 million inhabitants are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.

Last month, at least 24 people were killed in severe storms in the South Asian nation, which experienced several extreme weather events in the spring, including strong hailstorms.


Pakistan PM meets Sana Mir after ICC Hall of Fame induction, hopes she will nurture new talent

Updated 28 June 2025
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Pakistan PM meets Sana Mir after ICC Hall of Fame induction, hopes she will nurture new talent

  • A trailblazer for women’s cricket in Pakistan, Mir represented the national team from 2005 to 2019
  • She holds the record for the most wickets by a Pakistani woman in one-day internationals with 151

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday met with former Pakistan Women Cricket Team captain Sana Mir and congratulated her on her induction into the International Cricket Council (ICC) Hall of Fame, Sharif’s office said.

Mir this month became the first woman cricketer from Pakistan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. She was honored alongside India’s MS Dhoni, England’s Sarah Taylor, South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith, Australia’s Matthew Hayden, and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori.

PM Sharif appreciated Mir saying that the Pakistan women cricket team achieved significant successes and made Pakistan famous all over the world under her leadership.

“The government is trying to promote talent on the basis of merit in every field of sports. Giving equal opportunities and facilities to men and women in every field of sports, including cricket, is among our priorities,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office.

“Hopefully, you will play an active role in providing training to new talent in cricket with your experience.”

Mir thanked the prime minister and said she was trying her level best to represent Pakistan fully in the World Cricket Association and the ICC.

She gave suggestions for further promotion of cricket, especially women’s cricket, in Pakistan.

A trailblazer for women’s cricket in Pakistan, Mir represented the national team from 2005 to 2019. She is the eighth Pakistani overall and just the 15th woman globally to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

She holds the record for the most wickets by a Pakistani woman in one-day internationals with 151 and was the first Asian woman to feature in 100 T20 internationals. In 2018, she became the first Pakistani woman to top the ICC ODI bowling rankings.


Arbitration court says has jurisdiction in Pakistan’s Indus waters case against India

Updated 28 June 2025
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Arbitration court says has jurisdiction in Pakistan’s Indus waters case against India

  • The South Asian neighbors have been arguing over hydroelectric projects on the shared Indus river and tributaries for decades
  • Pakistan complains that India’s planned hydropower dams will cut flows on the river which feeds 80 percent of its irrigated agriculture

ISLAMABAD: The Permanent Court of Arbitration on Friday ruled that India’s decision of holding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance did not deprive the court of its competence to adjudicate Pakistan’s complaints against its neighbor.

In its supplemental award on the proceedings instituted by Pakistan against India, the court said it had previously found that once a proceeding before a court of arbitration is properly initiated, as in the present case, “there must be a strong presumption against the incidental loss of jurisdiction over the matters placed before it by subsequent acts, such as the appointment of a neutral expert.”

India announced it was putting the 1960 World Bank-mediated treaty, which ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, in abeyance a day after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, an allegation Islamabad denies. Pakistan has previously said the treaty has no provision for one side to unilaterally pull back and that any blocking of river water flowing to Pakistan will be considered “an act of war.”

In light of the developments, the PCA issued a procedural order on May 16 and requested the parties to provide written submissions on the effect, if any, of these recent developments before the court. Pakistan filed written submissions and no submissions were filed by India, but the court said it had considered New Delhi’s position.

“The current phase of the proceedings before the Court concerns the overall interpretation and application of the Treaty’s provisions on hydro-electric project design and operation, as well as the legal effect of past decisions of dispute resolution bodies under the Treaty,” it said.

“Accordingly, the text of the Treaty, read in light of its object and purpose, does not to allow either Party, acting unilaterally, to hold in abeyance or suspend an ongoing dispute settlement process.”

The IWT grants Pakistan rights to the Indus basin’s western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower, while India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow. India can use the western rivers for limited purposes such as power generation and irrigation, without storing or diverting large volumes, according to the agreement.

On July 6, 2023, the PCA had issued its award on competence after considering India’s objections. In a unanimous decision, the court had ruled that it was competent to consider and determine the disputes set forth in Pakistan’s request for arbitration in the case. Pakistan had initiated the present arbitral proceedings before the court on August 19, 2016.

The South Asian neighbors have been arguing over hydroelectric projects on the shared Indus river and its tributaries for decades, with Pakistan complaining that India’s planned hydropower dams will cut flows on the river which feeds 80 percent of its irrigated agriculture.

The PCA noted on Friday that the principal issue concerned the implications, if any, that India’s decision to hold the treaty in “abeyance” may have on the competence of the court.

“Paragraph 16 of Annexure G to the Treaty provides that ‘[s]ubject to the provisions of this Treaty and except as the Parties may otherwise agree, the Court shall decide all questions relating to its competence’,” the PCA said.

“Accordingly, the Court found that it was for the Court — and the Court alone — to answer the question before it.”

New Delhi’s halting of the water agreement was one of a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures taken by both countries in the immediate aftermath of the April 22 attack in Kashmir, which resulted in a four-day military conflict between the neighbors in May.

The Pakistani government welcomed the supplemental award by the PCA in the IWT case.

“Pakistan welcomes the Supplemental Award by the Court of Arbitration in the Indus Waters matter that has been handed down today and made public on the website of the Permanent Court of Arbitration,” it said in an X post on Friday.

“Pakistan notes that the Court has affirmed its Competence in the light of recent developments and that unilateral action by India cannot deprive either the Court or the Neutral Expert... of their competence to adjudicate the issues before them.”

Islamabad said the priority at this point was for India and Pakistan to find a way back to a meaningful dialogue, including on the application of the Indus Waters Treaty.

Pakistan is “ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue with India on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, water, trade and terrorism,” it said, quoting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s comments earlier this week.