The Punjab government on Friday removed Umar Sheikh from the post of Lahore Capital City Police Officer, according to a government notification.

Sheikh has been replaced with Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, who has served as a police officer for 27 years, including as the Lahore DIG operations and Lahore chief traffic officer.

A notification issued by the Punjab Services and General Administration Department and signed by the chief secretary, stated: "Muhammad Umar Sheikh (PSP/BS-20), Lahore Capital City Police Officer (in his own pay and scale) is hereby transferred with immediate effect and posted as Deputy Inspector General of Police/Deputy Commandant, Punjab Constabulary, Farooqabad against a vacant post."

The reason(s) for his transfer was not immediately clear.

Read: Promotions of Lahore CCPO, two other senior officers uncertain

The same notification said Dogar (PSP/BS-20), who was previously serving as DIG Technical Procurement, Punjab Central Police Office, "is hereby transferred with immediate effect and posted as Capital City Police Officer, Lahore (in his own pay and scale)" in place of Sheikh.

Dogar, who hails from Sialkot, is counted among some of the most professional, able and experienced police officers in Pakistan. He holds BSc Civil Engineering and MSc degrees, according to information released by the Punjab Inspector General of Police office.

He joined the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) as an assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in 1993 and belongs to the 21st Common Training Programme.

Since the start of his police career, Dogar has served on numerous positions in various cities of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. After his promotion to the rank of DIG, he served as the Multan city police officer (CPO), DIG R & D, Sahiwal regional police officer (RPO), DIG Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP), Faisalabad RPO and DIG IT.

Former CCPO Sheikh had his fair share of controversies during his short term. In September last year, the then Punjab IG Shoaib Dastagir was removed after he stopped working in protest against alleged comments made by Sheikh.

Sheikh, during a meeting with senior police officers, had allegedly spoken against the provincial police chief. Dastagir had reportedly met the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister and sought a probe into the alleged misconduct by the CCPO and appropriate action. Otherwise, he had asked to be transferred.

The police officer also sparked outrage earlier this year when he made remarks implying that the victim of the Lahore motorway gang-rape incident shared responsibility for her rape.

After the woman was gang-raped by two 'robbers' on gunpoint in front of her children in the Gujjarpura area, Sheikh had pontificated that the victim had failed to take due precautions before setting off for her journey.

At the time, the PTI-led government had decided against removing Sheikh, despite repeated calls from civil society and human rights activists for him to be replaced. The former Lahore police chief had subsequently apologised to the rape victim for his comments.

In late September, members of Sheikh's lower staff had decided to stage a protest after he had his personal secretary, a BS-16 official, briefly arrested. After getting upset with the secretary over a minor lapse in official work, Sheikh had called him to his office where he allegedly abused him and had him temporarily ‘arrested’.