LAHORE: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has given Inspector General of Police Abdul Kareem a free hand to transfer 15 district police officers (DPOs) and four regional police officers (RPOs) for low performance indicators.

The police officers were put under scrutiny in the light of the performance evaluation reports prepared by Shoaib Mirza, the special assistant to the CM, by evaluating the crime graph and law and order situation.

As per the performance evaluation reports shared with the IGP, crime against women and children increased manifold in the ‘marked 15 districts of the province,’. The gang-rape incidents against women also witnessed a sharp surge in these districts.

An official, privy to the information, said the development came in a follow-up meeting held at Central Police Office (CPO) here the other day in the light of the recently held video-link conference where the chief minister expressed displeasure with the low performing DPOs and RPOs.

The move follows scrutiny of performance of 15 marked districts; crime against women and children was particularly high

According to the monthly key performance indicator system, he said, 15 districts were ‘marked’ for delivering low in crime against women and children and other heinous crimes, resulting in transfers of the officers.

The DPOs who have been placed under tight scrutiny as per the report presented by the SACM were Layyah, Lodhhran, Multan, Khanewal, Chakwal, Khushab, Mianwali, Murree, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Vehari, Sargodha, Kot Addu, Gujrat and Bhakkar.

The official said that Rawalpindi RPO Babar Sarfraz Alpa remained the centre of the discussions when the special reports highlighted several individual incidents of crime against women and children taking place in Rawalpindi. Similarly, RPO Faisalabad Inamur Rehman Malik was questioned by the CM as to why the crime against properties surged ‘all of a sudden’ in the city during the last few weeks or so.

The Multan and DG Khan RPOs were asked by the IGP to improve their supervisory role to bring the crime down.

During the video link meeting, the insider said, Ms Maryam had highlighted a prominent incident of gruesome killing of an industrialist, Mian Rehan Ashraf Qadri in the heart of the city, saying that the case was sufficient to declare the poor performance of the police officials. The industrialist was allegedly shot and killed on Oct 17, 2026, while attempting to recover his stolen vehicle.

On that occasion, the official said, some senior police officers raised objections to the list of 15 districts the SACM had shared in the performance evaluation reports, saying some districts had delivered up to the mark.

Sargodha RPO Sohail Sukhera and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Punjab Wasim Sial interrupted and admired the efforts of DPOs of Sargodha and Mianwali, saying they had conducted raids even in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with CTD trained personnel in a hot pursuit of the proclaimed offenders of Sargodha.

When Lahore also came under discussion for the same reasons, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddique defended the provincial capital being population-wise bigger than other major districts. Keeping in view that point, the CCPO said, the crime graph of the provincial capital was much better than other major cities of the province.

Meanwhile, the DPO Murree clarified the ‘crime situation’ when the special performance report highlighted the homicide/murder incidents increased by 75 in his district (Murree). The chief minister admonished the DPO Layyah for being lowest in the KPIs. She directed the RPO DG Khan to look into the matter as to why the district failed in achieving the given targets.

The official added that Maryam Nawaz showed her displeasure to the RPOs and DPOs over the rising incidents of gang rape of women, saying the social media plateforms were flooded with such cases. She referred to the high-profile gang rape cases and crime against children prominently highlighted on social media account (X), warning the officers that she would not endure the exploitation of women and children at any cost.

Presiding over a separate meeting, the official said the IGP officially conveyed to all the DPOs and RPOs about the upcoming high-profile meeting to be held after four weeks, giving clear signals that the officers would be transferred for not rectifying the performance in the light of the indicators.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2026