LAHORE: The Punjab government has appointed BS-20 police officer DIG Waseem Ahmad Khan as additional IG of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) — a BS-21 post.

It has also posted other officers in the Punjab CTD in order to build a ‘best available team’ following the recent wave of terrorism. On Tuesday, the Punjab government reshuffled 32 police officers including three DIGs and nine SPs. It was the third major reshuffle of the police officers in the tenure of Rao Sardar Ali Khan as IGP.

A notification issued here on Tuesday said DIG (BS-20) retired Flt Lt Waseem Ahmad Khan has been transferred and posted as additional IG CTD Punjab (in his own pay and scale) against an existing vacancy. Mr Khan was transferred from the post of RPO Multan and posted as DIG CTD Punjab in January 2021. Since then, he has been holding additional charge of additional IG CTD Punjab.

An official said other probable officers for the slot in BS-21 included Zulfiqar Hameed, Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, Shahid Hanif and Kanwar Dilshad.

The government had posted BS-20 DIG Afzaal Ahmad Kausar (awaiting posting) as DIG CTD Punjab vice Waseem Ahmad Khan. Earlier, Mr Kausar had served as Islamabad’s DIG Operations. His name was being considered for appointment in Special Branch, Punjab, but the government made his posting in CTD keeping in view his competence and experience.

The government finalised name of BS-20 DIG Mohammad Azhar Akram for the Special Branch, Punjab, and made his posting on Tuesday against the existing vacancy.

Meanwhile, the IG shortlisted more experienced police officers for the CTD in order to build a better team to cope with the challenges of terrorism. He transferred AIG (police complaints) Asad Sarfraz Khan and posted him as Punjab CTD SSP Operations (Lahore). Umar Tufail has been posted as Punjab CTD SSP Investigation (Lahore) vice Kamran Nawaz who has been transferred and posted as SSP/RO CTD Lahore.

Awaiting posting, Mohammad Sharif (BS-18) has been posted as Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP), DG Khan SP, against an existing vacancy; Haider Ali has been posted as SP Kohsar Division, Murree; Pakpattan SP Investigation Daniyal Ahmad Javed has been transferred and posted as SP Lyallpur, Faisalabad; Bilal Iftikhar has been posted as SP Scientific Training Wing PC, Sihala; and Ahsan Saifullah has been posted as SP Technical Telecommunication Punjab.

The IG also transferred 20 DSPs and assigned them new postings in various districts of the province.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2022