LAHORE: The ongoing political rivalry between the PML-N, its allied parties running the federal government and the PMLQ-PTI alliance that reigns in Punjab has adversely affected the Punjab Police department as both sides have been ‘targeting senior officers in the name of political affiliation’.

These views are expressed by police officers who are concerned about their department’s performance and careers of their colleagues, who they think, don’t deserve such treatment.

In this connection, they cited various examples including that of the two-time candidate for the Punjab inspector general of police, Fayyaz Ahmad Dev, a BS-21 officer, who is awaiting posting.

Mr Dev has served as Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO), a position that is considered second to the provincial police chief for its importance. However, after the PML-N took over in the centre, Mr Dev was removed from the post on April 13 this year and was directed to report to the Establishment Division (ED), Islamabad, “till further orders”. Since then he has been waiting for his next assignment.

Similarly, many other senior police officers have been ‘sidelined’ following allegations of having ‘loyalties’ with political rivals of the ruling group.

Some senior police officers are of the view that the ‘blame-game’ started when the PML-N, after coming into power ‘shortlisted’ many officers to remove them from their positions, particularly in Punjab, the main ‘battlefield’ where the party wanted to post a ‘loyal police team’.

An official told Dawn that Mr Dev was among many officers who were posted by the PTI-PML-Q government in Punjab. He said Dev was made an officer on special duty (OSD) a few days after the PTI-Q government in Punjab proposed his name for the Punjab police chief slot in the panel of three officers. He says the situation got further tense in Punjab when the alliance again came into power in the province and started following in the footsteps of the PML-N, victimising many officers posted during the tenure of the rival political party in the province.

Like Mr Dev, he says, many police officers of various ranks in Punjab were either forced to leave the province or made OSDs, rendering many posts vacant, that were filled by junior officers “of choice”.

Official statistics suggest that currently over 60 posts in top three grades (BS-19 to BS-21) were lying vacant in the provincial police department, mainly due to the ‘political tussle’ between the Punjab and the federal government.

With two DIG-rank police officers serving as OSDs following their “political victimisation”, 10 out of total 18 BS-21 slots in the additional IG-rank were lying vacant in Punjab. Of these, five BS-21 slots fell vacant recently when the Punjab government surrendered services of the additional IG-rank officers to the centre.

Similarly, out of total nearly 90 BS-19 slots of senior superintendents of police (SSP), 53 were vacant and most of the BS-18 police officers were posted against these positions across Punjab.

Interestingly, the officers of DIG rank were available over and above the total 41 sanctioned posts in Punjab.

Currently, eight BS-20 police officers are serving against the senior positions of BS-21 in Punjab police, in violation of the set criteria.

The official says DIGs, including Nasir Mehmood Satti, Dr Moeen Masood and Munir Masood Marth were serving as regional police officers of Rawalpindi, Multan and Gujranwala, respectively. All these posts had been upgraded from BS-20 to BS-21 some years back, keeping in view the requirements of the regions. It was proposed to the government that these important slots be filled according to the ranks.

The police experts say that the ‘pick and choose’ method based on supposed “loyalty” or “disloyalty” of officers has lowered the morale of the Punjab police force due to its trickle down effect. They suggested to the authorities concerned to stop “political victimisation” of officers that was not only detrimental for police department but also for the public.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2022