LAHORE: The Punjab government on Monday transferred Kasur District Police Officer (DPO) Sohaib Ashraf and posted him as Lahore Operations Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), replacing him with Lahore Cantt Investigation SP Syed Imran Karamat Bukhari.

Kasur district, falling under the Sheikhpura region, has been reporting high crime rate recently.

According to an official, Inspector General of Punjab Police Faisal Shahkar, during past meetings, showed his displeasure over the performance of Sheikhupura Regional Police Officer (RPO) Dr Inam Waheed, a BS-20 officer, who is heading the region for second time.

The official says the IGP had recently called a meeting of Sheikhpura region officers, including the RPO and DPOs, during his visit to Kasur and discussed the issue of high crime rate in detail. The murders of eight persons in Hachar village in Narang area some three days back further irked the IG police, he adds. He says the IG, in the light of some inquiry reports on the incident, found police official concerned blatantly negligent and got five of them, including a station house officer (SHO), arrested. The IG has also ordered departmental proceedings against the guilty officials, he adds.

The government has also reshuffled five more police officers, the official says.

He says Mr Sohaib Ashraf headed the Kasur police for 11 months.

Kasur district has also been in the news for child abuse crimes and many police officers who served as DPO were transferred prematurely, primarily for negligence and poor performance.

Kasur district first came under spotlight in 2014 when child sexual abuse scandal surfaced there, giving a bad name to Punjab Police, as well as the country. The scandal had drawn attention of local and international media when it transpired that nearly 300 children were amongst the victims of sexual abuse.

The then DPO of Kasur was shown the door for his failure to arrest the culprits.

Later, many other experienced officers were posted as Kasur DPO, with prime task of arresting those running a network involved in the crimes against children.

In 2019, Kasur police, under the command of then DPO Zahid Nawaz Marwat, managed to arrest a serial killer involved in sexually abusing and killing four children. His performance was lauded by the provincial and federal governments.

The official said Sohaib Ashraf, who was posted DPO in November, 2021, had a ‘safe exit’ from Kasur as he was posted Lahore Operations SSP. He replaced Mustansar Feroze, who was transferred and sent to the Central Police Office(CPO). Mr Feroze would assume charge at the Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA) in a few days to come, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2022