LAHORE: The frequent transfers and postings have made Lahore a “tough city’ to serve for the senior police officers and the new team has begun work in a state of uncertainty.

The Punjab government claims to have made appointment of Lahore capital city police officer, DIGs and SSPs from the ‘best available choice’ in their respective ranks. Its the eighth appointment of the DIG Operations and fifth of the CCPO since the general election in 2018.

The police circles see it as a mockery of law and an attempt to strengthen the law violators. Had the government taken the decision to enter an agreement with the TLP in the starting phase of agitation, they say, precious lives could have been saved and loss of properties averted.

An official said that in the past most police officers in Lahore had been transferred prematurely due to the law and order issues, a reason that had ‘blemished’ the careers of ‘top-rated professional police officers’ of BS-20 and 21. He said the services of some of them were later surrendered to the Establishment Division, Islamabad, bringing further embarrassment to them and the police.

While unfolding reasons of previous transfers and postings of the police officers, the official said Shahzad Akbar was the first DIG- ranked police officer who was transferred from the post of DIG Operations, Lahore four months after his appointment. The reason of transfer was said to be ‘grouping in the Punjab police’, he said.

Shahzad Akbar was replaced by DIG Waqas Nazir who headed the Lahore Operations Wing for around five months. He was transferred in May 2019 in the wake of tension when a team of the National Accountability Bureau was dispatched for the arrest of PML-N leader Hamza Shehbaz and later complained about the ‘unsatisfactory’ role of the police.

The then Faisalabad CPO, Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, replaced Mr Nazir but he too served for a period of only eight months. He was transferred from Lahore when then IG Shoaib Dastagir formed a new team of choice and replaced Ashfaq Khan with DIG Rai Babar Saeed. Mr Rai served the Lahore police for around six months and was transferred in the aftermath of a violent attack of hundreds of lawyers at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC). The Punjab government later surrendered his services to the Establishment Division and he is now serving in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The official said Ashfaq Ahmad Khan was again posted DIG Operations Lahore, making it his second appointment in June 2020. After second eight-month term, Mr Khan was again transferred and posted as Sargodha RPO. He was replaced by DIG Sajid Kiani who could serve in Lahore for only six months as the Punjab government transferred him in the wake of the Minar-i-Pakistan case in August 2021 and posted Faisalabad CPO DIG Sohail Chaudhry new head of the Lahore operations police.

Mr Chaudhry’s posting in Lahore was made for the shortest period of around two months or so as he was among the senior officers of Lahore who were transferred in the aftermath of TLP’s violent agitation a few days back.

About the appointment of the CCPOs, the official said, B.A Nasir was the only BS-21 police officer who headed the provincial capital police for a maximum period of around 20 months during the PTI tenure. The other senior police officers including Zulfiqar Hameed, Umar Sheikh and Ghulam Mahmood Dogar served the Lahore police as CCPO for a brief period.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2021