LAHORE: A massive police reshuffle is likely across the province, as Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz has conducted interviews of seven officials for their new appointment as regional police officer (RPO) and district police officer (DPO).

Chief Secretary Kamran Afzal and Inspector General of Police Punjab Rao Sardar Ali Khan were also present on the occasion.

The police officers who appeared for the new postings in Punjab included DIGs Dr Inam Waheed, Dr Abid Khan and SSPs Rai Ijaz, Ali Nasir Rizvi, Kamran Mumtaz, Attaur Rehman and Arif Shahbaz.

An interesting aspect of the development was that Lahore Operations DIG Dr Abid Khan also appeared for interview which shocked many.

CM interviews seven officials for RPO, DPO slots

An official privy to the development told Dawn that the newly-appointed Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddique Kamyana had requested the IG Punjab to replace Dr Abid with an officer of his (CCPO) choice.

He said the Lahore’s entire top police set-up is likely to be replaced by the new ones as the CCPO wanted his own team to lead in the provincial capital.

Following this, the official said, the CCPO Lahore proposed the name of Counter Terrorism Department Punjab DIG Afzaal Kausar as he had once served under command of Mr Kamyana.

However, Mr Kausar has refused to serve in Lahore as DIG operations as he wanted to continue with his assignment in CTD which was entrusted him recently.

He said Dr Abid was known as one of the most competent police officers in BS-20 and he is likely to be transferred and posted as RPO, most likely, head of Gujranwala region.

On finding the Lahore police chief looking for new [police] leadership, many officers including divisional SPs of Lahore approached the Central Police Office (CPO) for their transfer out of the city.

Talking about others, the official further said DIG Dr Inam Waheed was among the police officers who were repatriated from Punjab to the federal government under rotation policy during the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in the province.

They were posted in Sindh, he said adding that other officers serving in BS-20 included former RPO Multan Kurram Shah, ex-additional IG special branch Punjab Zaeem Sheikh, former RPO Bahawalpur Zubair Ahmad Dreshak, former DIG Operations Lahore Shahzad Akbar, ex-DIG investigation Lahore Sultan Chaudhry, Mohammad Kashif, Ahmad Nawaz Cheema and Imran Yaqoob.

However, he said, Dr Inam and Sohail Akthar Sukhera have been transferred from Sindh and their services were put at the disposal of the Punjab government after PML-N formed government in the province.

Of the police officers interviewed by the CM Punjab, Dr Inam was also trying his hard to be posted as RPO, the official said.

He added that the other SSP ranked police officers were being considered for the slots of City Police Officer Rawalpindi and DPOs in Attock, Gujrat and Jhelum.

The official said Arif Shahbaz is being posted as Attock DPO, Kamran Mumtaz as Jhelum DPO and Attaur Rehman as Gujrat DPO.

The official said the Punjab government was considering more transfer and postings in the senior rank of the provincial police in the next phase.

“Many other officers are expected to be transferred in the next phase,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2022