LAHORE: The federal government has transferred 15 senior police officers under the new rotation policy 2020 approved by Prime Minister Imran Khan in order to rotate the officials after completion of 10-year period in a province or region.

The DIG-ranked officers reshuffled from the provinces and the federal government institutes were serving in BS-20.

Many of the officers were not expecting implementation on the policy at such a massive level.

The main feature of the development was that the federal government slapped a ban on a mandatory period of two years for the officers on their postings in the geographical limits of the station from where they were transferred.

15 senior officials transferred across country

It is said to be the first-ever practice adopted by any government to describe in the notification the reason for transfer of a police officer under the rotation policy.

The reshuffle of selective officers somehow shocked the PSP community as it believed that only 20 per cent of the total officials falling under this policy in the same grade were transferred, ‘due to likes and dislikes’.

Most of the officers who have completed their more than 10-year tenure or even for more than 20-year period were yet serving in Punjab and Sindh, an official privy to the development told Dawn.

He feared that the government may use this policy or opportunity as a tool to allegedly victimise the officers for not following its ‘all instructions’.

Giving a reference to the effect, he said, name of Rawalpindi City Police Officer DIG Ahsan Younas was also in the list of 15 police officers transferred by the government.

He said the DIG, who believed in merit, was known for his ‘innovative’ ideas in the PSP community to bring about reforms for a better service delivery.

These days, he was facing pressure from the ‘political heavyweights’ of the city to please them in some transfer/posting matters or to snub their rivals, he said.

Some MPAs complained to the Punjab chief minister and demanded transfer of Mr Ahsan from the city to anywhere in the province, he said.

The official source said the uniform implementation of the policy was the only solution to the success of the new policy.

There was also an argument as some police officers believed that the ‘sudden’ reshuffle would render the [policing] system lopsided, said another officer.

He said they believed that the vacuum in the form of uniform reshuffle particularly in a province would affect public service delivery as a majority of the officials would not be able to understand the local system, community, traditions, crime pattern or other core issues.

According to the notification, DIG Sultan Ahmad Chaudhry has been transferred from National Highways & Motorways Police Pakistan and placed at the disposal of the Sindh government, DIG Munir Ahmad Sheikh from Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to Punjab, DIG Tariq Abbas Qureshi from Punjab to Sindh, DIG Shariq Kamal Siddique from Punjab to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, DIG Hassan Raza Khan from Punjab to Gilgit Baltistan, Shahid Javed from Punjab to NH&MP, Fida Hussain Mastoi from Sindh to the NH&MP, Iqbal Dara Dayo from Sindh to Punjab, Irfan Ali Baloch from Sindh to Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Qamaruz Zaman and Munir Ahmad Sheikh from Sindh to Punjab, Awal Khan from KP to FIA, Sher Akbar from KP to NH&MP, and DIG Jawad Ahmad Dogar has been transferred from Punjab and his services were placed at the disposal of the Balochistan government.

More transfers [under the policy] in grade 19 and 18 are in the pipeline.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2021