LAHORE: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Monday interviewed 15 police officers, including three women aspirants to the top police slots in five districts of the province -- Gujrat, Attock, Khushab, Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh -- according to sources.

The officers interviewed by the chief minister included SSPs Ammara Sherazi, Bushra Jameel, Ayesha Butt, Dost Mohammad, Furqan Bilal, Kamran Aamir Khan, Sarward Mavarhan Khan, Kashif Aslam, Syed Hasnain Haider, Dr Mohammad Rizwan, Tariq Walayat, Rana Umar Farooq, Faraz Ahmad, Kashif Zulfiqar and Syed Ghazanfar Ali Shah.

Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman and Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar were also present.

An official privy to the development says that earlier Muzaffargarh was not among the districts where police heads were to be changed as Dr Muhammad Rizwan was appointed there just five months back.

The official says that in a sudden and surprising move the Central Police Office (CPO) prepared the panel of three officers for the appointment of a new district police officer (DPO) at Muzaffargarh.

He says that the decision to transfer Dr Rizwan prematurely has been taken at the eleventh hour by the Punjab government under pressure from certain ‘powerful quarters’ as he enjoys a good reputation for going by the book.

According to sources, the government has already marked officers to be posted as police heads in some of the districts and in such cases, the panels were “just a formality”.

The official says that some PML-N parliamentarians from Gujrat exerted immense pressure on the police high-ups to ensure the posting of their favourite officer as the DPO, also recommending his name to the chief minister.

However, he says, the Chief Minister Secretariat and the CPO ignored the parliamentarians’ nomination as they would prefer an officer who would follow the government’s orders instead of taking directions from local ruling party leadership.

Similarly, he says, the selection of a suitable and experienced officer to head police inDG Khan would also be a difficult decision as the district has become a hotbed of militancy and dacoit gangs. Recently, the district faced brazen attacks by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants (Khwarjis) and other hardened criminals.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2025