GUJRAT: Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi relinquished the charge of Gujrat district police officer late on Tuesday night, and the Punjab government is yet to announce a replacement.

The acting charge of Gujrat DPO was given to city DSP Ghulam Mustafa Gilani on Wednesday. Rizvi had been transferred on Tuesday as he is proceeding on a course for his promotion from BPS-18 to 19.

Moreover, the posts of Gujrat SP (headquarters) and SP (investigation) had been lying vacant for long; there was no SP (headquarters) for over two years since the transfer of Dr Saeed Khan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The last SP (investigation) Rana Javed Iqbal, who had been transferred in April last year, had served on this post for only three months. Prior to him the post had remained vacant for almost one year after the retirement of SP Afzal Virk.

Local PML-N lawmakers have made several attempts to bring some senior police officials on the abovementioned vacancies, but in vain. Now another post had got vacant after the transfer of Syed Nasir Rizvi.

Performance of the Gujrat police has been affected due to delay in postings on these positions. Crime rate in the district had increased alarmingly, especially target killings, murders, robberies and extortion.