LAHORE: After making new appointments against several key police slots of the province, the caretaker set-up in Punjab has reshuffled almost the entire chain of command of the Lahore force, including the chief traffic officer and senior superintendent of police (SSP) of the investigation wing.

Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Dr Asad Ijaz Malhi and Lahore SSP (Investigation) Syed Husnain Haider have been removed and made officers on special duty (OSD). They have been replaced with former SSP (operations) Mustansar Feroze and Dr Anoosh Masood Chaudhry, respectively.

Four other officers who have been transferred and made OSDs included anti-riot unit Superintendent of Police (SP) Sajid Hussain Khokhar, Civil Lines SP (Investigation) Zain Asim, Model Town SP (Investigation) Zohaib Nasrullah Ranjha, Saddar division SP (Investigation) Irtaza Komail and Anti-Vehicle Lifting Squad SP Atif Hayat.

An official said Dr Chaudhry has become the first woman officer to be posted as the SSP (investigation) in the provincial capital. The encouraging development has raised hopes for many other women in the force to get prime field assignments. He said it was the fourth field appointment for Dr Chaudhry in the city where she has previously served as the assistant superintendent of police (ASP), and divisional SP in Lahore Cantt and Model Town.

To her credit, she was also the first woman officer to be posted as the SSP operations on May 28, 2022, though the decision was reviewed shortly afterwards.

Dr Chaudhry is the fifth woman SP currently serving in Lahore. Ms Ayesha Butt is serving as the Crime Record Office SP, Ammara Sherazi in Model Town (operations), Aqeela Niaz Naqvi Iqbal Town division as well as Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs) Bushra Nisar in Gulberg and Sidra Khan in Defence.

The official source said the transfer of investigation police head, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Athar Ismail, was also on the cards as the Punjab government has finalised Punjab Telecommunication and Transport DIG Sohail Akhtar Sukhera as his replacement. He further said it was considered one of the key slots in the provincial capital after the city police chief and head of the operations wing.

Reportedly, the officer holding the post for several months could not perform satisfactorily primarily due to the huge backlog of investigation reports of criminal cases in the city.

The source said Mr Sukhera was among 12 police officers of the DIG rank interviewed by caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi, the chief secretary, the provincial as well as the Lahore police chief a week ago.

Capital City Police Officer Bilal Siddique Kamyana was instrumental in building a new police team in the city in order to improve law and order. About the reasons for the transfer of the CTO, the source said the caretaker government was told that Dr Malhi had been appointed by the previous PML-Q government due to his “Gujrat background”.

Some divisional SPs were transferred mutually among each other while a few of them were assigned new divisions, according to a notification issued late on Saturday. There were reports that the Punjab government was preparing lists of the district police officers for the next phase of reshuffle and a decision was likely soon.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2023