ISLAMABAD: Threats to the chief of capital police have caused delays in the implementation of a Supreme Court order regarding the cancellation of promotion of those who received out of turn promotions, police officials said.

The Central Police Office (CPO) of Islamabad issued a notification cancelling the promotion of 21 officials, but four deputy superintendents of police (DSP) whose names were on the last are at the same positions and hold the same rank, officials said.

The notification was issued in May from the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad, along with a list featuring four DSPs, eight inspectors, three sub-inspectors (SI) and five assistant sub-inspectors (ASI).

The demotions of the inspectors, SIs and ASIs were started shortly, officials said, adding that in the meantime the CPO received a letter addressed to the IGP threatening him with dire consequences for issuing the notification and list of to-be demoted officials.

The IGP was also warned that any further moves to implement the notification would damage him professionally and cost him severely, they said.

Further action on the implementation of the notification was stopped after the letter was received. Efforts to locate and identify the sender were also unsuccessful, they added.

They said that while low ranking police officials were demoted, the senior officials – DSPs – remained at their old positions and held the same rank. These officials were stationed with the Islamabad Traffic Police, the police’s Special Branch, the Crime Investigation Agency and Operations.

An officer from the CPO told Dawn that the delays in demoting the remaining officials had occurred because of the anonymous letter.

“We have no trace of those behind the letter, and so far it has not been established whether it was just a threat or if the sender was serious,” he said. “At the time it was decided to initiate the process of demoting the remaining officials after some delays.”

Another CPO officer said a letter was written to the interior minister which stated that the four DSPs had received out of turn promotions, and asked their promotions to be withdrawn or cancelled. He said the interior ministry has the authority to promote an officer of the capital police from inspector to DSP and DSP to superintendent of police (SP), and in this regard can take action against them, including demotion.

However, the IGP’s spokesperson, Inspector Tahir Mehmood Khan, said the delay has nothing to do with the threat. He added that some ranking officials wrote and sent the letter in anger and were disappointed, and the threats were not serious.

When asked about the delay, he said the CPO had sought the police prosecution department’s opinion on the process of demotion of the DSPs, which took time. He said the month of Ramazan and the Eid holidays added to the delay. “Now, the CPO sent the letter to the interior ministry on Tuesday [July 12],” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2016