LAHORE: In a sudden move, the Punjab government on Tuesday reshuffled 19 senior police officers serving across the province, including two regional police officers (RPOs).

Of the reshuffled officer, 10 were in BS-21 and eight in BS-20. Some of them who were serving on junior posts in spite of getting promoted were given senior slots.

On the other hand, the authorities, again posted some senior police officers against junior slots.

An official privy to the development told Dawn that Sheikhupura RPO Farooq Mazhar, a BS-21 officer, was transferred and posted against a junior (BS-20) position, following Punjab special branch report submitted to Inspector General (IG) Shoaib Dastagir that said his region was reporting less FIRs than the actual number of crimes occurring there.

According to the notification, Mr Mazhar has been posted as additional IG of the Elite Police Force vice Shahid Hanif who was posted as additional IG of police training vice Tariq Masood Yasin.

Mr Yasin was transferred and posted as additional IG of police welfare and finance vice Rao Sardar Ali Khan, who has been directed to report to the Services & General Administration Department (S&GAD) till further orders.

The official said Rao Sardar had been shortlisted for the slot of Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA) managing director. He was among the seven candidates interviewed by a high-powered selection committee headed by Punjab Chief Secretary Azam Suleman Khan for the top slot in the PSCA that had been lying vacant since transfer of Ali Aamir Malik.

Similarly, he said, for the post of chief operating officer (COO) of the authority, the Punjab government has almost finalised the name of Mohammad Kamran Khan who was presently working as PSCA chief administration officer.

The authority’s COO slot had fallen vacant after the transfer of Akbar Nasir Khan who has been posted as DIG police telecommunication and transport vice Shahid Javed who had been transferred and posted as Sheikhupura RPO. The official said Mr Shahid Javed got an important field posting after serving against ‘desk assignments’ for many years.

He said former Lahore operations DIG Waqas Nazir, who was reportedly removed from the post for not arresting PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz in May last year, finally got posted as DIG of information technology at the Central Police Office, thanks to lobbying by some senior police officers.

Bahawalpur RPO Fayyaz Ahmad Dev was transferred and posted as additional IG investigation (Punjab), relieving Azhar Hameed Khokhar of the additional charge of the post. According to the official, Dev was transferred giving the reason that he had been promoted to BS-21, while the RPO’s was a BS-20 position. However, he said, this sounds unconvincing as many of the reshuffled officers had been posted against junior slots in the province.

Multan City Police Officer Zubair Ahmad Dareshak has been transferred and posted as Bahawalpur RPO.

In this connection, he cited the example of Capt retired Ehsan Tufail who was currently working as commandant of the Police Training College, Lahore, and upon his promotion to BS-21, he was asked to continue holding the position instead of being assigned a senior slot.

“The commandant police training college Lahore is promoted to the rank of BS-21, in that service, on regular basis, in pursuance of establishment division Islamabad’s notification dated March 25, 2020, and upon such promotion he is allowed to continue as commandant police training college Lahore to actualize his promotion”, reads the notification.

Similarly, another senior police officer, Sahibzada Mohammad Shahzad Sultan (BS-21), who was awaiting posting, has been transferred and posted as additional IG of police traffic, Punjab, a BS-20 post. Non-availability of a BS-21 slot in the province was cited as reason for the posting, he said.

Additional IG, police counter terrorism department, Punjab, Mohammad Tahir Rai, was allowed to hold his current assignment on his promotion to BS-21.

Tariq Abbas Qureshi, who was awaiting posting, has been posted as Highway Patrol Punjab IG, relieving Mohammad Inkisaar Khan Afghan of additional charge of the post.

Elite police force DIG Mr Afghan has been transferred and posted as deputy commandant, Punjab constabulary, Farooqabad, vice Dr Mohammad Akhtar Abbas, who has been transferred.

Battalion Commandant Punjab Constabulary, Faisalabad, SSP Mahboob Rashid has been transferred and posted as Security Division Lahore DIG, relieving Rai Babar Saeed of additional charge of the post.

Information technology DIG Ghuam Mahmood Dogar has been transferred and posted as technical procurement DIG against a vacant post.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2020