LAHORE: Punjab IGP Inam Ghani has removed Lahore Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) head Mohammad Shoaib Khurram reportedly on ‘performance issues’ three months after his posting.

The grade 19 police officer, Mr Khurram was posted Lahore CIA SSP on March 18 this year against the junior position of BS-18.

An officer told Dawn that Mr Khurram was unhappy over his posting against a junior position. He said recently the said officer had made an attempt for his posting as Sheikhupura district police officer (DPO) which was occupied by SSP Operations Lahore Ahsan Saifullah this month.

An interesting development is that the IGP posted BS-18 SP Asim Iftikhar new CIA Lahore chief who had an altercation with former Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh during his tenure in October last year. He said Mr Iftikhar was serving as head of the CIA Lahore at that time when he and the then CCPO had arguments at a meeting where senior police officers mediated between the two. Mr Shiekh had also ordered the arrest of Asim Iftikhar at the meeting for not attending phone calls and the matter later led to the removal of the latter from his post on the complaint of the then CCPO.

The officer said the IGP had removed many officers of Lahore to ‘calm down’ Umar Sheikh. He said the IGP gradually brought some of those officers back on strong recommendations.

Meanwhile, Mr Ghani also removed two SPs including a woman police officer whose appointment was made in Lahore on the recommendations of the then CCPO Lahore.

Now the appointment of Asim Iftikhar against same post from where he was transferred during the tenure of Umar Sheikh as CCPO stunned many, the police officer said.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2021