LAHORE: The Punjab government has withdrawn the order of transfers/postings of three police officers after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) objected to the reshuffle made in violation of the ban slapped by the commission on May 25 ahead of the by-polls on 20 provincial assembly seats.

The order was reviewed a day after the government transferred seven police officers.

An official, privy to the information, said the development had kicked off a debate in the police circles as to why the department authorities were so ‘ill-informed’ about the Commission’s May 25 notification/order wherein it had banned all kinds of transfer/postings. He said the notification of transfer/postings had caused embarrassment for the Punjab Police as well as the officers who were directed to resume their previous assignments.

On May 25, the ECP had announced that by-election on 20 seats of the Punjab Assembly that fell vacant after denotification of 25 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPAs would be held on July 17. While issuing a notification in this regard on May 25, it had declared that the returning officers of the constituencies would issue a public notice of the by-polls on May 31 and nominations would be received from June 4 to June 7.

Ignoring the ECP orders, the Punjab government, on May 27, transferred seven police officers across the province, including the posting of Dr Anoosh Masood Chaudhry as the first woman SSP Operations Lahore. She was supposed to replace Mustansar Feroze who was directed to report to the Central Police Office for further order. Six other police officers were also reshuffled.

The official said after the notification by Inspector General of Police Rao Sardar Ali Khan surfaced, the ECP declared it as a violation of its order issued on May 25. He said the ECP conveyed to the Punjab government that it had already slapped a ban on all kinds of postings in the districts of the province where the by-election was announced and reshuffle of any police officer would be taken as violation of the law. It declared that the appointments of new officers would influence the election process and asked the government to withdraw the transfer/postings made after the issuance of notification of by-polls on the seats in-question.

Following the ECP’s objection, the government directed the inspector general of police to review the decision of appointment of seven police officers.

After discussing the matter in a meeting, the IGP withdrew the notification of three of the seven police officers, including the appointment of the SSP Operations Lahore.

“In pursuance of the letters issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan on May 25, 2022, the notification of transfer of three police officers has been withdrawn ab-initio,” reads the new notification issued by the IG Punjab on Saturday.

According to this notification, the transfer of Bahawalngar SP Farooq Ahmad Anwar and Mustansar Feroze had also been withdrawn.

Through the earlier notification, Mr Anwar was transferred from Bahawalnagar and directed to report to the CPO for further order.

About the removal of District Police Officer Attock Arif Shahbaz, the official said, the IGP was unhappy over ‘negligence’ when the officer had not led the police force professionally when the PTI’s long march was entering Punjab from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said the IGP was informed that the charged PTI workers had managed to remove two security barriers and the then Attock DPO was reportedly found absent. He was further briefed that despite being head of the district police force, Arif Shahbaz had abandoned his force on the border point, creating a potential security risk for them.

Following the reports, the IGP had removed him and appointed SP Umar Salamat as the new DPO Attock.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2022