LAHORE: As the caretaker government in Punjab removed six regional police officers (RPOs) from their posts and made them officers on special duty (OSDs), the PML-N government in the Centre also withdrew the services of nine police officers from the province for being close to its rival political parties – PTI and PML-Q.

In the related development, the eight other police officers, expelled from Punjab by the PTI government, have been brought back to the province to give them new roles in the caretaker set-up.

The police circles declare the transfer of the officers to and from Punjab during the rule of various political parties politically motivated, saying that the culture of ‘likes and dislikes’ has put the future of several police officers at stake due to the prevailing situation.

They say the rifts between the political parties have not only destroyed the image of the Punjab Police in general but also dented the morale of the force, leading to the worsening of the crime situation. They say most of the officers are concerned about their safety and the future with Punjab becoming a tough and risky province to work in due to the recent confrontations between the leading political parties.

An officer of BPS-21 says there was a time when the police officers used to be proud to be law enforcement officers in Punjab but in the prevailing political uncertainty they feel frustrated due to the polarisation.

“I am going through a bitter time of my service as I see a protector struggling for his own protection,” comments a BPS-20 police officer.

He goes on to say that when the PML-N comes to power, it expels the police officers from Punjab and its rival political party repeats the same practice when it forms government in the province.

This vicious circle has already damaged career of several police officers, he laments, seeking the intervention of the judiciary to save the police organisation and the community.

An official source says that the police officers the caretaker government has brought back from the Centre include Dr Haider Ashraf, Sohail Chaudhry, Sajjad Hussain Manj, Humayun Bashir Tarar, Ghias Gill, Rizwan Gondal, retired Capt Liaqat Ali Malik and Nasir Mahmood.

Of them, he says, Dr Haider Ashraf, Ghias Gill and Rizwan Gondal were the ‘worst political victims’ as the PTI, during its rule in Punjab, targeted them multiple times. These officers later got themselves transferred from Punjab to Islamabad to avoid further victimisation by the then provincial government, the official says. They are coming back to Punjab after spending many years in Islamabad and other province.

In a tit-for-tat situation, the official source says, the federal government has withdrawn the services of certain police officers from Punjab for being close to the PTI/PML-Q and issued a notification in this respect on Friday.

They include Farooq Mazhar (BPS-21), Agha Muhammad Yousuf, Munir Masood, Muhammad Akhtar Abbas, Muhammad Saleem and Ahmed Jamalur Rehman of BPS-20, Ghulam Mubashar Malik (BPS-19), Bilal Qayyum (BPS-18) and Farooq Amjad (BPS-18).

About the massive reshuffle in top ranks of Punjab police, a source says the police officers who have been removed and made OSDs include Faisalabad RPO Sarfraz Ahmad Falki, Sheikhupura RPO Dr Inam Waheed Khan, Sargodha RPO Azhar Akram, Bahawalpur RPO Munir Ahmad Zia Rao, Sahiwal RPO Mirza Faran Baig and Rawalpindi RPO Nasir Mahmood Satti.

Similarly, the caretaker CM has also transferred additional IGP South Punjab Sahibzada Muhammad Shahzad Sultan and DIG crimes investigation branch Maqsoodul Hassan and made them OSDs.

The BPS-20 new police officers posted against the abovementioned vacant slots included Dr Abid Khan as new Faisalabad RPO, Babar Sarfraz Alpa Sheikhupura RPO, Shariq Kamal Siddique Sargodha RPO, Rai Babar Saeed Bahawalpur, Mehboob Rasheed Mian Sahiwal while DG Khan District Police Officer Mohammad Akmal has been given look-after charge of the DG Khan RPO.

The official says DG Khan RPO Syed Khurram Ali was the only among the abovementioned heads of the regional police who managed to secure his posting. He has been transferred and posted as new Rawalpindi RPO vice Nasir Mehmood Satti who was made the OSD.

The official says the three RPOs of the Gujranwala region, Multan and Gujrat region are yet to be transferred and there are reports that the government will transfer and replace them by those police officers who have been put on the disposal of the caretaker government by the Centre.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023