LAHORE, March 6: The Punjab government on Tuesday transferred Punjab Elite Police Force DIG Zulfikar Ahmad Cheema and posted him Sheikhupura Regional Police Officer against an existing vacancy.

Mr Cheema earlier served as Gujranwala RPO for a period of over two years (between 2008 and 2010).

A source at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat confided to Dawn that Mr Cheema, who was earlier strongly considered for the post of the Lahore city police chief, could not replace CCPO Malik Ahmad Raza Tahir after some reservations from political and bureaucratic circles.

He said his name was finally dropped for the post of CCPO on Sunday last and was finalized for Sheikhupura.

The source further said DIG Tahir, who earlier formally requested the government for his transfer and posting in the Punjab Constabulary, had shown his consent to continue as the city police chief.

The source said a high-ranking DMG official in Punjab had earlier strongly opposed Mr Cheema’s posting as CCPO in Lahore because of their bitter relations in the first tenure of Shahbaz Shaif as the provincial chief executive.

The DMG official, who was the then Lahore’s Deputy Commissioner and Mr Cheema, who was the Lahore police chief, developed a friction after an arson attack on the DC office.

SPs: The Inspector General of Punjab Police has posted SP Akhtar Ali Khan as Okara SP.