LAHORE: Inspector General of Punjab Police Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera has sought explanation from 28 senior police officers of the province, including five city police officers (CPOs), three DIGs, 14 district police officers (DPOs) and three senior superintendents of police (SSPs) in connection with illegal recruitment of some 126 constables and their subsequent bogus transfers and postings.

The action has been taken after a probe conducted by Multan Regional Police Officer Tariq Masood Yasin into the scam confirmed the recruitment of “bogus constables” in various districts in total violation of the laid down procedures for inductions in the department, according to official documents available with Dawn.

Among other violations, bypassing the security clearance in these appointments is the gravest in the backdrop of terrorism threat the country was faced with.

The matter was probed into on the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan after the surfacing of the mega scam, that put a big question mark on the recruitment system for lower ranks of police.

Presently, over 182,000 ‘jawans’ are on the strength of Punjab police.

Keeping in view the gravity of the situation, the IG has ordered all the RPOs and the Lahore capital city police officer to scrutinise 10-year record of the transfers and postings of police officials under their command.

After ordering action against these “bogus” constables and the lower staff involved in their illegal recruitment under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the IG expanded scope of the inquiry to as many as 28 senior police officers, including the inquiry officer Tariq Masood Yasin, to determine the extent of their role in the issuance of “fraudulent” transfer-posting orders of these cops.

126 ‘fake’ constables worked in police for eight years

Explanation has also been sought in this connection from other police officers, included former DIGs Establishment (Punjab) B A Nasir and Shoib Dastgir, former Faisalabad CPOs Bilal Siddique Kamyana, Riffat Mukhtar Raja, Aftab Ahmad Cheema, former Multan CPOs Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, Muhammad Rizwan, former Jhang DPOs Abdul Kareem, Akhtar Umar Hayat Lalayka, Zeeshan Asghar, former Mianwali DPO Zubair Dreshak, former Layyah DPO Shaukat Abbas, former Muzafargarh DPOs Munir Ahmed Zia Rao, Manzoor Sarwar, former Khanewal DPOs Ijaz Ahmed Rai, Waqar Abbasi, former Lodhran DPO Muhammad Yousaf, former Chiniot DPO Zameerul Haq Rai.

The IG has apprised the Supreme Court about progress in the case through official correspondence, listing the steps taken in this regard, including the explanation sought from senior police officers.

In his letter addressed to the SC, Mushtaq Sukhera stated, “In pursuance of the order passed by the Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan in Sept 2015, a committee headed by the Multan RPO was constituted to probe into the bogus/fictitious induction in the Punjab police”

He stated that the committee held the lower police staff responsible for the bogus inductions. “As far as the role of the senior police officers is concerned, the Committee recommended issuance (seeking) of explanations to (from) senior police officers in whose tenure the fraudulent transfer orders were issued”, the IG stated.

The IG deputed Additional Inspector General (Operations) Arif Nawaz Khan to examine the replies submitted by the officers and to determine the extent of their responsibility in the cases in which fraudulent orders were issued, the documents said.

Interestingly, the IG had appointed Multan RPO Tariq Masood Yasin as inquiry officer, ignoring the fact that most of the bogus recruitment, and transfer-postings of the constables were made during his (Mr Yasin’s) tenure as Establishment DIG at the IG office, a senior officer privy to the information told Dawn.

He said most of the fake appointments were also made during the same period and that the Multan RPO confirmed in his inquiry report that the recruitment and transfer-postings of 126 constables were made in sheer violation of law.

He said the fake inductions were made some eight years ago and these constables continued to discharge their duties in various districts of Punjab during he period, besides drawing salaries and other perks and privileges, causing a huge financial loss to the exchequer.

The scam had surfaced when some of the constables were transferred to Lahore a few months back, he said.

Senior police officers posted in Lahore, after scrutinising the record, suspended these ‘fake constables’ who moved the Lahore High Court against the decision. The

LHC ordered the police authorities to reinstate them. Later, the police department challenged the decision in Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The official said that in the light of the probe conducted by Mr Yasi, as many as 30 FIRs were registered in Lahore under ATA against the ‘fake constables’, lower rank officials and other staff involved in the recruitment process.

He said bogus recruitment of 126 constables without ‘security clearance’ exposed a major flaw in the Punjab police human resource system and a sheer ‘lack of responsibility’ among senior police officers concerned.

The postings ‘without security clearance’ at sensitive installations, and at security duties of VVIPs, including the chief minister, senior judges and state guests, might have led to any untoward incident.

He said that in recent past a constable who was appointed without security clearance had murdered former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.

The IG also engaged other government departments, including Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) and Accountant General Office for holding separate inquiries into the scam.

“The Anti-Corruption Establishment Punjab director general has been requested to constitute an investigation team headed by a senior police officer to expeditiously investigate all the cases registered against the delinquent officials on merit and to arrest the accused found involved,” the IG submitted in his letter to the Supreme Court.

Further apprising the SC on the progress in the case, the IG submitted that the Punjab accountant general had also been requested to constitute a joint inquiry committee to probe into the financial aspects of the cases, especially the use of fake ‘Last Pay Certificates’ for the issuance of salaries and to initiate departmental and criminal action against the delinquent officials who were found involved in the scam.

The AG had also been requested to task the committee to highlight the loopholes that were exploited by the fraudsters, in order to prevent such frauds in future, the letter reads.

The spokesperson for the Punjab police said the IG had directed all the staff and field police officers to strictly adhere to the relevant rules in relation to the appointment, transfer and posting.

She said after the surfacing of the scam, the IG took many steps to prevent such incidents in future. An IT-based human resource management system was being developed to obviate any chances of such fraud, the spokesperson added.

“All the Punjab police record is also being computerised”, she said, hoping that once the system became functional, the department would be purged of such malpractices.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2015