LAHORE, Nov 15: Posts of Attock and Pakpattan district police officers have been lying vacant for the last five days while Vehari district is being being ‘looked after’ by an officer on interim basis for the last two weeks as the Punjab government has yet to make these appointments despite availability of eligible candidates.

Timely appointments against these vacant seats become all the more necessary as the districts of Attock and Vehari are considered sensitive in connection with Muharram, while in Pakpattan annual ceremonies of Baba Fareed Ganj Shakar Urs have begun on Friday (today).

The provincial police chief has already ordered foolproof security arrangements for the month, keeping in view ‘specific’ terror threats, besides paying visits to some of the sensitive districts in this regard.

The police circles believe that the absence of full-time DPOs can adversely affect policing and may also result in any untoward incident in these districts.

Faisalabad Iqbal Town SP Shakir Hussain Dawar (of 32nd Common Training Programme), who is looking after the charge of Vehari DPO for the last two weeks, is yet to get full charge of the post despite appearing for an interview with the chief minister on Saturday last. Similarly, Attock Investigation SP Abbas Majeed Marwat and Sahiwal Legal SP Mushtaq Hussain Shah have been looking after the charge of Attock and Pakpattan DPOs, Dawn has learnt.

Sources said three SPs -- Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, Faisal Chahar and Athar Ismaeel -- were being considered for Pakpattan and Attock posts while Mr Shakir might continue as Vehari DPO in future.

SPs Muhammad Hilal Khan and Jehanzaib Nazir Khan relinquished the charge of Attock and Pakpattan DPOs respectively after they were relieved by Punjab government for posting in Gilgit-Baltistan province.

Appointments of junior officers as DPOs in Punjab have also created resentment and frustration among senior officers who have yet to be appointed district heads despite several interviews with the chief minister.

A source at the Central Police Office told Dawn that a list of 14 SSPs, who were working in Punjab and had yet to be appointed DPOs, had been prepared.

He said senior officers believed that posting junior officers as DPOs was apparently benefiting the PML-N led provincial government as such officers mostly felt insecure and were ready to shower all sorts of favours on ruling party members.

According to police record, the officers of 33rd CTP were serving as DPOs while officers of even 25th Common, who were serving in Punjab, have yet to get top district postings.

A senior police officer confided to Dawn that the chief minister’s non-availability was delaying the appointments.

Meanwhile, the IG transferred and posted three police officers on Thursday.

According to a notification, Ehsan Manzoor awaiting posting has been posted Sahiwal Regional Investigation Branch SP vice Muhammad Iqbal who has been transferred and posted Okara investigation SP.

Okara Investigation SP Akhtar Ali Khan has been transferred and posted Sahiwal investigation SP against an existing vacancy. — MUHAMMAD FAISAL ALI