RAWALPINDI, Oct 9: A batch of 29 police officers including a lady DSP selected for deployment in the UN peacekeeping mission will leave for Timor-Leste from Islamabad on October 18, official sources told Dawn.

A UN selection team had tested 1,200 candidates in November 2005 for their selection. Out of the candidates, 180 were declared successful.

Later, the UN department of peacekeeping operation conducted telephonic interviews of 45 candidates and finally selected 29 of them.

English communication skill, both oral and written, was essential for the candidates.

The 29 selected candidates of various ranks included one SSP, one SP, three DSPs, 13 inspectors, 10 sub-inspectors and one ASI. The SSP, Mohammad Iqbal, and SP Waheed Khan are from the NWFP, DSPs Nasir Aziz Khan and Mohammad Ilyas are from the Punjab police while the lady DSP Najma Parveen belongs to Sindh.

The 13 inspectors are Muzammil Hussain, Nadeem Ahmad, Altaf Hussain, Jamil Akhtar, Mohammad Arshad Siddiqui, Ahsan Zulfiqar, Syed Muzaffar, Sajjad Haider Shah, Rahim Shah, Naeem Ahmed Zia, Syed Azhar Hussain (ICT police), Aamir Khalil and Saiful Murtaza.

The 10 sub-inspectors are Malik Attaullah, Syed Mukhtar Shah, Malik Naeem Akhtar, Ayaz Mehmood, Masood Mehmood, Mohammad Najeeb Shah, Ghulam Raza, Nizamuddin Rajput, Fazal Qadir and Khurshid Ahmed, while ASI Imam Bux Korai is from Sindh police.

The 29-member batch will depart from Islamabad for Timor on three separate flights on Oct 18, 19 and 20.