The capital’s police chief is in a fix these days. Dawn has reliably learnt that during the last two weeks he issued and then withdrew orders thrice for the appointment of Station House Officer (SHO) of Kohsar Police Station – each was withdrawn within an hour of issuance. Not only that, the police officer that he is fielding as the replacement is a man that the police chief had suspended for corruption in 2010 following a departmental inquiry.

Sources in the Central Police Office (CPO) and Kohsar and Aabpara police stations said that between December 7 and 12, posting orders were issued thrice by the Inspector General Police (IGP).

Inspector Allah Bux was transferred from Security Division and appointed as SHO Kohsar to replace Inspector Fayaz Tanoli.

The latter was transferred to SHO Aabpara Police Station. Meanwhile, SHO Aabpara, Inspector Tanveer Abbasi, was transferred to the office of Senior Superintendent of Police.

This order, which came on December 7, was cancelled within an hour and the three inspectors were asked to remain at their present appointments. After two days the same order was issued, but again withdrawn within an hour.

It was then issued again on December 12 but this time implementation on the orders was suspended.

Inspector General Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan’s predicament is that both the existing SHO as well as Allah Bux enjoy the backing of “influential quarters”.

Sources within police told Dawn that Inspector Allah Bux had used his links in the interior ministry to manoeuvre his transfer in the first place.

On the other hand, Inspector Fayaz Tanoli has links with some one linked to the presidency.

The reason so many strings are being pulled for this post is that the Kohsar Police Station is seen to be a money mint in police circles: from illegal guest houses to the illegal sale of alcohol to white-collar crime, the jurisdiction of this police station witnesses the most activity.

“In 2010, the Kohsar police registered 186 cases of bogus cheques valuing Rs620 million, which rose to 230 bogus cheque cases worth Rs800 million in 2011,” an official claimed.

However, it is pertinent to mention here that IGP Bani Amin Khan on July 26, 2010, while serving as deputy IGP Islamabad, had dismissed Inspector Allah Bux and Inspector Shah Nawaz for taking heavy bribes from Nato contractors to allow unauthorised parking of Nato trucks in Tarnol. This dismissal followed an attack on the trucks on June 8, 2010.

An inquiry had found the two inspectors guilty of taking bribes for unauthorised allocation of an empty plot to be used as a parking lot for Nato tankers.

However, the two inspectors were reinstated about six months ago when the contractors gave affidavits that they were not willing to pursue a legal course against them, and that they had no complaints against the two officers.