Police officers ‘posting shy’ in the wake of Minhaj fiasco

LAHORE: Police authorities had to face embarrassment on Thursday after a senior officer posted against a key slot in Lahore refused to assume the charge. Punjab police Inspector General Mushtaq Ahmad Sokhera on early Thursday appointed Assistant Inspector General of Police (operations) Punjab Muhammad Waqas Nazir as new Lahore SSP (Operations) to fill the key post that fell vacant in the wake of Model Town incident. However, Mr Nazir did not assume the charge till this report goes to the press. Mr Nazir had replaced SSP Rana Abdul Jabbar who was working as acting DIG (operations) and was made an OSD in connection with the Model Town incident which has so far claimed 10 civilian lives. Mr Jabbar was leading the anti-encroachment operation outside Pakistan Awami Tehrik chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri’s residence and Minhajul Quran Secretariat when indiscriminate firing took place ‘between the two sides’. A police source told Dawn that Mr Nazir ‘requested’ the IGP to withdraw the notification of his posting as he did not want to assume the charge for some ‘personal’ reasons. He said the SSP actually refused to assume the charge in view of severe criticism of police for mishandling the situation and opening fire on ‘innocent’ PAT activists. Another source, however, claimed Mr Nazir was dropped by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat for the time being as he was still facing two departmental inquiries initiated during his tenure as Hafizabad DPO. On the other hand, a senior Punjab police official seeking anonymity claimed Mr Nazir was likely to assume the charge in a day or two as he was busy in some departmental affairs at the Central Police Office. Currently, Lahore SP (Security) Salman Ali Khan, who was also present during the operation, is holding the additional charge of SSP (operations). Though the Punjab government has yet to post the new capital city police chief after the removal of DIG Chaudhry Shafique Ahmad Gujjar, a reliable source said the names of Punjab additional IG Counter Terrorism Department Captain (retired) Amin Wains, Bahawalpur RPO Muhammad Tahir Rai, Multan Regional Police Officer Amjad Javed Saleemi and DIG Ali Aamir Malik were also being considered for the slot. According to a source, at least two officers — Counter Terrorism Department DIG Amir Zulfiqar and Telecommunication DIG Ali Amir Malik — have expressed their reservations when their consent was sought for their posting as Lahore CCPO. Another source, however, said the PML-N-led government was delaying posting of the new CCPO owing to the crisis it was faced with following Model Town tragedy and criticism from all sides. He further said the government was taking its time before appointing the new CCPO and the DIG (operations) to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future. Mr Sokhera, when contacted, said authorities were not considering the posting of new CCPO at this point in time because investigation into Model Town incident was under way. He said DIG (Investigation) Zulfiqar Hameed would continue as acting CCPO till further orders. Meanwhile, in another administrative move, the IG transferred Punjab Special Branch SP Intelligence Omer Saeed Malik and posted him Lahore Model Town SP (operations) vice SP Tariq Aziz Sindhu who was also removed from the post along with the CCPO and the DIG (operations). Lahore Crimes Record Office SP Mustafa Hameed Malik was transferred and posted Lahore Cantonment SP (investigation) vice SP Asad Sarfraz Khan who was posted Lahore City SP (operations) against an existing vacancy. The IG also appointed SP Khalil Ahmad who was awaiting posting as Lahore High Court SP Security. Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2014