ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: A tussle between interior minister Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat and the Punjab government has started due to political differences over the implementation of recently introduced Police Order-2002, sources in concerned departments told Dawn on Friday.

The sources said although the Punjab province has not yet openly opposed the new Police Order-2002, it has, however, expressed some reservations over the provision which places police in all the four provinces of the country under federal interior ministry instead of being a part of the provincial set-up.

They said political rivalry between the two components of the ruling alliance the PML-Q and the PPP (Patriots) has also sharpened the differences as the chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi is provincial chief of the PML-Q while the interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat belongs to PPP (Patriots).

A source in the interior ministry said the discord between the two has reached such a level that the Punjab police has stopped even protocol duty for the interior minister in his own constituency in Jhang district.

During the recent visit to Jhang where he addressed a public meeting, the minister was not provided any security by the staff of Massan police station, the source said.

He said even the Station House Officer (SHO) was absent from his duty when the interior minister held the public meeting. “The interior ministry had already informed top police officials in Punjab about the minister’s visit in Jhang but local police did not provide him due security cover,” the source said.

The interior minister, he said, was informed by the participants of public meeting that the SHO Massan police station had taken many people in custody unlawfully.

The interior minister ordered early release of the people booked by the SHO but his orders were not obeyed. “The interior minister was expecting that the Punjab government will take action against concerned police officials for not obeying his orders but the provincial government seems to be reluctant to take this matter seriously,” the source said.

A source in the Punjab Police told Dawn that top police officials in Jhang, including District Police Officer (DPO), usually went to provincial capital Lahore on the pretext of some official engagements, whenever the interior minister visited his constituency. “In order to avoid taking dictation from the interior minister, these police officials always skip out,” he said.

The source said defence minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal who also belongs to the PPP (Patriots), was also facing a similar situation in his own constituency in Okara district as he too was not being given any protocol by the provincial government.