LAHORE: The Punjab government kept on transferring the police officers appointed during the PML-N tenure in the province, on Friday removing Mianwali District Police Officer (DPO) Rizwan Gondal from his post, besides some others.

It has posted BS-21 police officer Ghulam Mahmood Dogar as Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) against an existing vacancy. Mr Dogar had served as Lahore CCPO during the PTI’s tenure in 2021. He had replaced the then Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh. Rizwan Gondal, who has been removed from his post some 50 days after he was posted by the PML-N government as Mianwali DPO.

An official said Mr Gondal was being “victimised” by the PTI government since an incident took place during his appointment as Pakpattan DPO in 2018 when the party was in power.

Giving details, he said, some officials of Pakpattan district police had stopped the car of Khawar Maneka, the ex-husband of the then premier Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, on the night of August 23, 2018 and allegedly misbehaved with him. He said after the issue was highlighted in the media, Mr Gondal was transferred.

Mahmood Dogar appointed CCPO

The official said, PTI government had allegedly conveyed to the authorities concerned not to give Mr Gondal any posting. He was transferred to Balochistan in May 2021 after serving as an officer on special duty (OSD) for many months, the official added.

After the PML-N formed government in Centre and Punjab, Mr Gondal was transferred back to the province in Apirl 2022 and posted as DPO. There are reports that the Punjab government removed Mr Gondal from his post allegedly on the directions of PTI chief Imran Khan.

However, PML-N government ordered the establishment division to transfer Mr Gondal to Islamabad, he said.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Inspector General of Police Akbar Nasir sent a requisition to the establishment division to post the officer in the federal capital. On Friday, the establishment division issued a notification, placing the services of Mr Gondal at the disposal of Interior Division for his posting in the federal capital.

The Punjab government transferred AIG Discipline, Central Police Office, Mohammad Naveed, and posted him as Mianwali DPO.

Similarly, the official said, another police officer, Okara DPO Hassan Iqbal, was facing the wrath of the PTI government for stopping some party leaders from holding a public meeting on the land of the local Christian community without getting approval from the district government when he was Sialkot DPO during the PML-N tenure in Punjab.Since then, the PTI leadership had been criticising Mr Iqbal on social media, waning him of action against him.

The establishment division also issued an order to recall Mr Iqbal’s services from Punjab for his posting in the federal capital, the police official said.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2022