Major reshuffle in Punjab police for ‘mishandling’ TLP protests

LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar-led PTI government in Punjab transferred the top brass of police in the province on Thursday for ‘mishandling the protest, rally and sit-in’ of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

Several regional police officers (RPOs) and district police officers (DPOs) were also changed.

Punjab government posted Punjab’s additional IG Investigation Fayyaz Ahmad Dev as the new Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) in place of Ghulam Mahmood Dogar, who was transferred and posted as Punjab Additional IG Logistics and Procurement in place of Shahid Hanif. Hanif had been posted as Additional IG Punjab Highway Patrol.

Likewise, City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Ahsan Younas had been transferred and posted as Lahore DIG Operations in place of Captain (retd) Sohail Chaudhry, who was also transferred and posted as DIG Technical Procurement Punjab.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Investigation Lahore Shariq Jamal was made an officer on special duty (OSD) and directed to report to the Services and General Administration Department till further orders.

Punjab government also made a mutual transfer of Lahore Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Ismail Kharrak, and Mianwali DPO Captain (retd) Mustansar Feroze.

Punjab’s DIG Headquarters Shahzada Sultan had been transferred and posted as new DIG Investigation Lahore in place of Shariq Jamal.

Sher Akbar, serving as Punjab DIG Establishment-I, is transferred and posted as Bahawalpur RPO in place of Zubair Dareshak. Dareshak was transferred and posted as Punjab DIG Headquarters.

DIG Munir Ahmad Sheikh is transferred and posted as Punjab Special Branch VVIP Security DIG Lahore in place of Mirza Faran Baig, who was transferred and posted as Punjab DIG Establishment-I.

Athar Ismail Amjad, working as Punjab Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Logistics, had been transferred and posted as the new Rawalpindi CPO.

Captain (retd) Mohammad Faisal Rana, who was working as DG Khan RPO, was transferred and posted as Sargodha RPO in place of Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, who had been transferred and posted as new Rawalpindi RPO. Imran Ahmar was transferred and posted as Gujranwala RPO against an existing vacancy.

Iqbal Dara was transferred and posted as Punjab Information Technology DIG in place of Waqas Nazeer, who had been appointed new DG Khan RPO.

Qamaruz Zaman was transferred and posted as South Punjab DIG Administration and Establishment against an existing vacancy.

Likewise, DIG Abdul Kareem had been appointed as Farooqabad Punjab Constabulary DIG against an existing vacancy.

The personal staff officer to IGP, Mohammad Sohaib Ashraf had been transferred and posted as Kasur DPO in place of Imran Kishwar who replaced Mansoor Aman as Lahore SSP Investigation. Aman was made the new DPO of Nankana Sahib in place of Bilal Iftikhar, who had been given the new assignment of DPO Chiniot.

Lahore PHP SP Nadeem Abbas was transferred and posted as Khanewal DPO vice Ali Waseem, who had been transferred and posted as DG Khan DPO from where Umer Saeed Malik was transferred to Sialkot where he will serve as DPO.

‘Punjab government saving its skin’ 

A senior police official told Bol News that by transferring the top brass of the police in Lahore, the government had tried to blame the police, as always. 

“To save their skins and inefficiency in peacefully dealing with the protesters through dialogue at an earlier stage, they [government] had put the blame on us, which was the easiest thing for them. Our jawans [soldiers] sacrificed their lives, and still, they [government] are blaming the police,” said the senior police official who wished not to be named.  

Members of the banned TLP had martyred at least 11 policemen during their recent violent protests. The Punjab cabinet on Thursday also approved the removal of the group from the list of proscribed organisations, apparently per a secret deal signed between the federal government and the party on October 31.

“Why don’t they declare the police proscribed now?” asked the senior police official.

However, sources told Bol News that IGP Rao Sardar Ali Khan had also grilled some of the officers for not fulfilling their core responsibilities when it was revealed during inquiries that almost all of the divisional SPs of Lahore were reluctant to have a face-off with the TLP protesters, fearing legal action in case of casualties, as witnessed in the aftermath of the 2014 Model Town massacre.

Another senior police official confirmed to Bol News that it was true some senior police officials were not in favour of using force against the protester because they feared the political leadership would put all the blame on them in case of a mishap.