LAHORE: The Punjab government has posted grade 20 police officer Mohammad Akhtar Abbas as first regional police officer (RPO) of newly-created Gujrat division.

The government had formally notified Gujrat as 10thdivision of the province on Aug 17 by bifurcation of Gujranwala division. It consists of three districts — Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad.

An official said that Mr Abbas’s name for the RPO office was recommended by Mohammad Khan Bhatti, the `influential’ principal secretary to Chief Minister Parvez Elahi.

He said that the police officer had served as Mandi Bahaudin DPO during the first tenure of Parvez Elahi as the Punjab CM.Meanwhile, the official said, the CM conveyed to the IG Punjab to give his consent in the favour of Akthar Abbas.

However, a summary was moved to the chief minister through the chief secretary, carrying names of three BS-20 police officers.

The two other police officers proposed for the same slot included DIGs Agha Yousaf and Tariq Rustam Chohan.

He said the names of the two officers were proposed just to complete legal formality. The CM did interview the three police officers and finalized the name of Akthar Abbas as the RPO.

Earlier, he said, the name of the same police officer was recommended by Elahi for the Gujranwala RPO but it was dropped due to opposition by local PTI.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2022