LAHORE: The Punjab government has surrendered 11 police officers to the establishment division, Islamabad, who may fill the slots vacated by those demanded by the province from the centre to give them new assignments.

For the replacement of the surrendered officers, the Punjab government had already sent requisitions to Islamabad, seeking services of the senior police officers, mostly serving in BS-20.

However, the establishment division refused to entertain the Punjab government’s request taking a plea that the province already had surplus officers, particularly in BS-19 and 20. The division suggested Punjab to first create space for the replacement of officers, an official told Dawn on Thursday.

Following this, he said, the Punjab government recently convened a high-level meeting where the names of many senior police officers were discussed for placing their services at the centre’s disposal.

After the meeting, 11 senior police officers were shortlisted in the first phase for the purpose, he said.

He said Inspector General of Punjab Police Amjad Javed Saleemi was also consulted before finalising the names of the police officers to be surrendered.

Of the 11 officers surrendered to the federal government, two are serving in BS-20, six in BS-19 and three in BS-18.

The BS-20 officers included Lahore Security Division DIG Shaukat Abbas, Discipline and Inspection DIG (Central Police Office) Sarfraz Ahmad Falki, while those in BS-19 are Ahmad Nasir Azizi Virk, Mohammad Kashif, Nasir Mukhtar Rajput, Humayun Masood Sandhu, Imran Yaqoob, Usman Akram Gondal. The BS-18 officers to be surrendered include Syed Jafar Abbas, Zulfiqar Ahmad and Asif Khan.

The Punjab services & general administration department (S&GAD) has issued the notifications in this respect, relieving these officers of their duties in the province.

The official said the process of short-listing, however, triggered a controversy after it transpired that all of them were in the list of more than 80 officers who had served for more than 10 years consecutively in Punjab.

The police circles termed it discrimination towards these police officers, as they believed that the Punjab government surrendered them under the newly proposed Rotation Policy which was yet to be finalised.

“Apparently the police officers were shortlisted through pick and choose method”, says a senior police officer requesting anonymity.

He said there was a long list of police officers in various senior grades who could have been surrendered, adding that the decision showed “there is something fishy”, he said.

He said the proposed Rotation Policy of the federal government had suggested that the police officers who had worked 10 years consecutively in a province would be transferred to other provinces.

He argued that as the criteria for such transfers was yet to be finalised, the selective reshuffle might demoralise the force, he said.

A senior police officer in Central Police Office (CPO), however, dispelled the impression of “pick and choose”, saying the services of the 11 officers had been surrendered to the federal government to replace them with the officers of Punjab origin.

The BS-20 police officers whose services have been sought by Punjab government include Maqsudul Hassan, Ahmad Kamal, Masud Saleem, Waqar Chohan, Akhtar Abbas, Riaz Nazir etc. These officers would replace their 11 colleagues surrendered to the federal government, he said, adding that more were likely to be transferred in the next phase.

“If an across-the-board rotation policy is applied to all the provinces, it may yield the desired results. But if some officers are sent (to the centre) just on the basis of personal likes or dislikes then it will surely be an eyewash”, says another police officer.

Another senior police officer supported the move, saying: “As a matter of principle, every IGP has the right to choose his team and distance himself from the officers he thinks are not good as per his own criteria.”

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2018