LAHORE: The Punjab government has appointed a junior police officer as new DIG Operations Lahore (BPS-20), leaving many officers, particularly those serving in BPS-20, shocked over the choice of the PML-N government.

Faisal Kamran (BPS-19) from 36th Common was serving as district police officer (DPO) Sargodha when he was transferred and posted as DIG Operations Lahore on Monday against the BPS-20 slot vice Ali Nasir Rizvi who had been posted as IG police Islamabad.

The sources, privy to the development, said Mr Kamran was appointed on recommendations of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif who suggested his name to Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The officer had served him as chief security officer (CSO) in 2016-17 when he was the prime minister. Since then, Mr Kamran has remained in the good books of Nawaz, the sources said.

Posting, done on Nawaz’ recommendations, overlooked many BPS-20 officers to favour a BPS-19 officer

There are also some reports that IGP Usman Anwar was unwilling to give him the abovementioned posting. But despite his reluctance, the Punjab government bypassed several BPS-20 officers and many in BPS-19 who were from 34th Common but had at least done the senior management course (SMC), the sources said. Faisal Kamran (BPS-19) has yet to do SMC course and he and his other batchmates serving in Punjab may take five to six years for promotion to the rank of DIG (BPS-20), an official source said. The SMC is mandatory for capacity-building of the potential officers with a view to enhancing their knowledge, skills, attitude and leadership ability to formulate, evaluate, implement and monitor public policies at the strategic level to improve the service delivery.

Kamran’s colleagues from the same 36th common, including Abadat Nisar, Sardar Ghias Gill and Tariq Wilayat, are serving as the DPOs of Toba Tek Singh, Attock and Pakpattan, respectively, which are relatively the low profile districts. Another officer, Syed Khalid Mahmood Hamdani, is serving as the CPO Rawalpindi.

The source said many senior colleagues of Kamran from 34th Common have completed the SMC last year and qualified for promotion to the next grade. Of them, Ali Zia is serving as CPO Faisalabad, Hassan Sukhera in Intelligence Bureau, Ammara Athar as CTO Lahore and Sahibzada Bilal Umar as assistant inspector general (AIG) development at the Central Police Office. No one from them was even discussed for the DIG Operations post Lahore.

The Punjab government also blatantly bypassed several police officers already serving in BPS-20. The names of two of them had come under discussion for replacement of Ali Nasir Rizvi.

The officers, including Gujranwala CPO Ayyaz Saleem, Lahore Organized Crime Unit (OCU) Imran Kishwar, were also in the race. Another BPS-20 officer Sadiq Dogar, serving as Multan CPO a relatively junior position, could also be a choice for the Lahore post.

The source has termed the DIG Operations Lahore slot highly sensitive and important, requiring a designated BPS-20 officer as per the Police Order 2002. He says the posting of a junior officer could be overlooked in smaller districts or on non-field assignments but the same can’t be done in Lahore, which reports over 350,000 crimes annually and deals with law and order situations, particularly being a hub of political unrest.

The source says the police circles have termed posting of Faisal Kamran a disappointing at a time when CM Maryam Nawaz had announced that she believed in upholding merit.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2024