LAHORE: Inspector General of Police retired Capt Arif Nawaz Khan established his team of senior police officers in Punjab on Monday by changing the portfolios of 11 deputy inspectors general (DIGs).

More importantly, he made two DIGs officers on special duty (OSD). They are Special Protection Unit (SPU) head Sultan Ahmad Chaudhry and Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Imran Mahmood on performance issues. Both the police officers have been directed to report to the Services & General Administration Department for further instructions.

The transfer of DIG Headquarters Punjab Afzaal Kausar was also being taken another important development.

He was appointed as regional police officer (RPO) Sargodha vice Khuram Ali Shah who was transferred and posted as new DIG Headquarters Punjab.

An official, privy to the information, told Dawn, the IGP Punjab was not comfortable with Mr Kausar who was posted as DIG Headquarter during the tenure of previous IGP Amjad Javed Saleemi. He said Mr Kausar had been trying to get posting in Rawalpindi, his hometown, and he had made a request to the IGP several times in this regard.

DIG CTD Punjab Humayun Bashir Tarar was transferred and posted as RPO Sahiwal vice Shariq Kamal who was transferred and posted as DIG Welfare Punjab.

The official said Shariq Kamal was transferred reportedly on poor performance as the IGP was very annoyed when two incidents of escape of criminals from custody surfaced in his region.

He said Mr Kamal was particularly snubbed after two hardened criminals escaped from the police lock-up recently.

DIG Security Division Lahore Imran Ahmar was transferred and posted as RPO DG Khan vice Umar Sheikh who was transferred and posted as the DIG SPU Punjab.

The official said Umar Sheikh had been very close to the Buzdar administration and the decision of giving him less important assignment raised many eyebrows in the police department.

Similarly, DIG Establishment Punjab-I Zubair Dreshak was transferred and posted as CPO Multan while DIG Investigation Monitoring, Investigation Branch Punjab Fayyaz Ahmed Dev was transferred and posted as DIG Commandant Police Training College Lahore vice Mirza Faran Baig.

Mr Baig has been transferred and posted as DIG VVIP Security Special Branch Punjab.

The official said Mr Dreshak and Mr Dev were having close relations with the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q. Mr Dev was transferred twice within three months and he was not happy with his current assignment (DIG Investigation Monitoring).

Dreshak’s appointment in Multan was being taken as a ‘blessing’ to him because he belonged to south Punjab (Muzaffargarh).

OPEN COURT: IGP retired Captain Arif Nawaz Khan directed the field police officers to hold open courts in their areas to address public complaints.

While resolving the complaints of over 40 people at the first open court he held since assuming charge as the IGP at the Central Police Office (CPO), he also took a decision to make sure regular holding of such activities across the province to improve interaction between the public and police.

During the open court, Mr Khan heard the complaints of the complainants from various districts and issued directions for their redress.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2019