LAHORE: Four police officers have refused to attend the meetings under the command of newly-appointed Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Syed Kaleem Imam for being senior to their new boss.

The officers didn’t attend the meetings called by the IGP on Tuesday and Wednesday to oversee the proposed reshuffle of senior officers ahead of general elections.

When the IGP sought reasons for their absence, his staff officer told him that the four officers “flatly refused” to attend the meetings for being senior to him (the IG), an official privy to the information told Dawn on Wednesday.

The police officers who refused to attend meetings are -- Additional IG (special branch) Faisal Shahkar, Punjab Constabulary Commandant Hussain Asghar, Lahore Capital City Police Officer Amin Wains and Additional IG (discipline and inspections) Dr Ijaz Hussain Shah.

The official said the appointment of Syed Kaleem Iman, a BS-21 officer, as provincial police officer (PPO), a BS-22 position, was also being seen as a violation of the Police Order 2002.

The post of the PPO had been occupied by grade 22 police officers in the past in accordance with the Police Order, he said, adding that Punjab’s former IGP Arif Nawaz, who was replaced by Mr Kaleem, was also a grade 22 officer. Earlier, the former IGPs Mushtaq Sukhera, Khan Baig and Tariq Saleem Dogar were also grade 22 officers.

The official said to fill the slot of Punjab PPO, the federal government had recommended a panel of three police officers -- National Police Academy Islamabad Commandant Khalid Dad Lak, Federal Investigation Agency Director General Bashir Memon and Syed Kaleem Imam.

Interestingly, both Mr Lak and Mr Memon were grade 22 officers, he added.

As Mr Imam was promoted to the rank of additional IG hardly a year back, his appointment against the BPS 22 post displeased the senior police hierarchy, the official said.

He said the four officers who refused to attend the meetings had been serving in Punjab as additional IGs for more than three years and belonged to 15th Common Training Programme (CTP).

Of them, two officers had requested the authorities concerned to surrender them to the federal government for further postings.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2018