06 October 2004	Wednesday	20 Shaban 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 5: A senior police official has been suspended for having refused to appoint some people on the recommendation of a Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal lawmaker, sources told Dawn here on Tuesday.

Mohammad Ayub, Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural), Peshawar, was suspended because he refused to appoint more than eight persons who had been recommended by an MMA MPA.

As the NWFP Police Department last month started the selection process for recruiting about 2,500 constables from all over the province, SSP Mohammad Ayub was given the task to conduct written test, physicals and interviews of the aspirants from the MPA's district and make the final selections.

The process lasted between September 6 and September 8, and just when the final selections were about to be announced, the MPA saw the SSP and gave him eight names for appointment, the sources added.

But the SSP refused to oblige the MPA because his nominees had not gotten through in the selection process, the sources said. Upon his refusal, the MPA had an exchange of hot words with SSP Ayub and told the police official that he would ask the chief minister to suspend him for disobeying the orders of a representative of the people, sources in police said.

After two days of the incident, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani called the SSP to his office in the morning. But the chief minister did not see him until evening and later asked him to go back to his office, they said.

The chief minister issued the order of suspension of Mohammad Ayub 15 days after the incident and appointed Gul Afzal Afridi in his place.