LAHORE: Two senior police officers reportedly clashed over “jokes” at the Kashi Laining International Airport — formerly Kashgar Airport — and the inspector general of police (IGP) lodged an inquiry to ascertain facts and take action.

The two officers were a part of a 12-member delegation of police on an official visit to China sent by the provincial government to attend the ‘Pakistan-China Economic Corridor Security Officials Training Programme’. Rawalpindi Region Special Branch SSP Fazal-i-Hamid was heading the delegation.

The incident took place when the officers were coming back after concluding training that had started on July 1, an official told Dawn. He alleged that BPS-19 officers Fazal-i-Hamid and Syed Karrar Hussain abused each other and passed objectionable comments at the airport in Xinjiang.

He said the situation took an ugly turn when Hamid and Karrar Hussain shared “some jokes” with each other and entered into heated a argument. As both the officers kept arguing, their colleagues who were a part of the delegation intervened and managed to defuse the tension.

An official privy to the information said IGP Dr Usman Anwar expressed his displeasure at the officers for bringing a bad name to the department and the government. He said Mr Usman had sought an explanation from the delegation and called all its other members into his office on Friday (today).

Initially, there were reports that a physical brawl had taken place between the two police officers after an exchange of heated arguments. However, some officers who were part of the delegation and who had witnessed the incident rejected the reports of a “physical clash”.

Talking to Dawn, IGP Dr Usman declared the incident unfortunate, saying he had called all the delegation members to his office to brief him about the reports of the clash between the two officers.

“It was not a physical clash at all as was being alleged,” the IG said. He dubbed it just an altercation between two police officers.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024