LAHORE, March 29: The caretaker federal government on Friday appointed Additional Inspector General of Police Aftab Sultan as new inspector general of Punjab Police, the top post, which remained vacant for almost three months.

Punjab Additional IG Khan Beg had the acting charge of the top post after retirement of Habibur Rehman on Jan 1.

The appointment was much-awaited, especially after Supreme Court’s directives to the government to appoint a regular IG in Punjab after an arson attack on Joseph Colony in Badami Bagh.

Sultan, who is currently serving as Commandant at the National Police Academy in Islamabad and served as Intelligence Bureau director general when Yousuf Raza Gilani was the prime minister, got the federal government’s nod after Election Commission of Pakistan’s permission, sources privy to the development told Dawn.

They said Sultan, who belongs to the fourth police common, was called to the Punjab House, Islamabad, by caretaker Chief Minister Najam Setthi and was asked to take over the top slot.

Sources said Sultan, who worked on key posts like the additional IG, Welfare and Finance in Punjab, was taken on board by the chief minister with a pledge that he needed neutral bureaucracy to hold free and fair elections.

Sultan, who was interviewed by a panel of PML-N leaders for the IG slot in 2011, was not welcomed by former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif because of his views against political interference in police matters and his plan to have independent administrative and financial control of his office.

He had refused to continue as Sargodha regional police officer when Musharraf-led regime conducted a sham referendum in 2001. He was shown the door by the then army-led government.

Sultan was assigned the inquiry of the Bank of Punjab scam by the Supreme Court a couple of years ago and his inquiry report was accepted by the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Sultan is a law graduate from the Punjab University, has LLM degree from the University of Cambridge and holds MSc degree in Jurisprudence/Legal Studies from the University of Edinburgh.

It is learnt the new provincial police chief will assume the charge of his office on April 1, and he will relinquish the charge of commandant on Saturday (today).