LAHORE, April 16: Shaukat Javed, a BS-21 officer of Police Service of Pakistan, has been appointed new Punjab inspector general, Dawn has learnt.

Mr Javed, who has been serving as Punjab Intelligence Bureau (IB) joint director general for the last four-and-a-half years, replaced Dr Syed Azhar Hassan Nadeem. Mr Nadeem, who remained IG for one-and-a-half month had replaced Ahmed Nasim on March 1, 2008.

Sources told Dawn the notification of new IG was issued by the federal government on Wednesday and dispatched to the Punjab government which landed at the CPO the same day.

Mr Javed is considered a professional police officer. Police circles welcomed his posting, hoping that he would make the department a service-oriented institution.

Sources said Javed, who has served in the IB and Crimes Branch, has experience in dealing terrorism-related issues and this factor also played an role in his posting in the backdrop of suicide bombings in the country. Besides police, Federal Investigation Agency is also being headed by Tariq Pervez, also an expert in tackling terror-related cases.

Mr Javed has served as Lahore range DIG from Aug 11, 1997 to Feb 25, 1999, when Shahbaz Sharif was the chief minister. He was then transferred to Multan as DIG Multan range.