LAHORE, May 8: In what appears to be a moderate reshuffle of district field police formations, provincial police chief Mohammad Habibur Rehman has transferred and posted nine senior police officers, majority of them district police officers (DPOs).

The notification was issued shortly after the selected police officers appeared before the chief minister for interview on Tuesday.

According to a notification issued on Tuesday, Bahawalpur DPO Ahmad Ishaq Jahangir was transferred and posted Bahawalpur regional investigation branch SSP vice Gohar Mushtaq Bhutta, who was told report to the Punjab Police headquarters.

Punjab Elite Police Force Deputy Director Rai Babar Saeed was transferred and posted Bahawalpur DPO.

Muzaffargarh DPO Munir Ahmad Zia Rao and Okara DPO Dr Muhammad Abid Khan were transferred and directed to report to the Punjab Police Headquarters.

Punjab Elite Police Force Deputy Director Zeeshan Asghar Malik was transferred and posted Muzaffargarh DPO and Rawalpindi Punjab Constabulary Commandant Battalion No 2 SP Dar Ali Khan Khattak was transferred and posted Jhelum DPO against an existing vacancy.

Bahawalnagar DPO Salman Ali Khan was transferred and posted Okara DPO and Chakwal SP Investigation Abdul Hameed Khosa was transferred and posted in Khan’s place.

SP Salman, who is from the 29th CSS Commoner, has got his second key field posting as he has been serving as DPO since 2010. SP Khosa, who belongs to the 30th Common, is rated an average police officer in police circles.

He remained posted in Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh and also served as DPO in interior Sindh.

The 26th Commoner, SP Dar Ali Khattak, who was twice posted Mandi Bahauddin DPO from 2009 and continued his posting for at least two years, has been posted Jhelum DPO despite the fact that he has been transferred to Balochistan by the federal government few days ago.

Sources at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat told Dawn that the provincial government was not relieving six ‘influential’ PSP officers from Punjab despite their transfer notification to Balochistan issued by the federal government a week ago.

The officers included Sargodha DPO Dr Muhammad Rizwan, SP Dar Ali Khattak, SP Ahmad Nasir Aziz Virk and SP Syed Ali Mohsin.

Sources, however, said the Punjab government ‘forcibly’ relieved eight officers from ranks and issued another notification the very next day to save PSPs.

They said the PML-N-led government was now argued with the PPP-led federal government that it had already relieved eight officers retaining remaining six officers because of shortage of officers.