LAHORE: The Punjab government has removed Bahawalpur Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sadiq Dogar from his post and made him an officer on special duty (OSD) reportedly due to his ‘poor’ command which led to resurgence of hardened criminals in the Katcha area along the Indus falling mainly in Rahim Yar Khan district.

The government acted against the RPO on the complaints of Inspector General of Police Punjab Faisal Shahkar who was unhappy with his performance.

An official privy to the development said that it was for the first time that action was initiated against an RPO for his ‘poor’ command and by doing so the government has given a message to other RPOs as well.

In the continuity of this action, the IGP has also called an RPOs conference tomorrow (Wednesday) to unveil a new policy for other regional officers to bring the DIG rank officers, specially, those heading the regions under the accountability mechanism for not making optimum performance.

IGP irked by discrepancies in Katcha operation reports sent by him and Special Branch

He said the IGP had shown his utter displeasure when he was informed that the Bahawalpur RPO was not taking interest in leading the command of the police busy in operation against Katcha area of Rahim Yar Khan and other adjoining parts.

He said as many as 5,000 police personnel with back support of elite force and logistic support including the armoured personnel carriers had been fielded on the approval of the Punjab government to get the areas cleared of hardened criminals.

The official said recently during a police operation some untoward incidents surfaced when a group of dacoits attacked the police teams and fired shots which led to the death of a policeman.

The report later sent to the IGP unveiled that the policemen were fielded in the operation against well-equipped hardened dacoits in sheer violation of the SOPs, he said adding that the policeman who died of bullet injury was not wearing the special helmet.

Similarly, the criminals also kidnapped some locals for ransom. A disturbing part of the development was that the hardened dacoits of Sindh Katcha areas also entered Punjab’s territory and attacked the police force as well as locals.

The IGP expressed his utter displeasure over the poor command of the RPO concerned and the reports he had sent to the Central Police Office regarding the activities of the police and the criminals.

During the tense situation of the last three weeks, Mr Dogar was conveyed many times about the unsatisfactory remarks of the IGP but the situation remained unchanged, the official said.

Meanwhile, he added, the IGP obtained some secret reports from the Special Branch and other agencies regarding operation in the Katcha area. He said the Special Branch reports had clashed with those sent by Sadiq Dogar as the RPO and this further irked the Punjab police chief who took up matters with the chief minister and recommending transfer of Mr Dogar.

Following the frequent displeasure shown by the police chief, the official said, Mr Dogar conveyed to the government to transfer him if they were not satisfied with his performance.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government also transferred Mandi Bahauddin DPO Naeem Aziz and directed him to report to the CPO for further orders.

It has transferred Hafizabad DPO Anwar Saeed Kingra and posted him as new DPO Mandi Bahauddin.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2022