LAHORE: The Gujranwala regional police officer (RPO) has proposed strong departmental action against former SSP (Operations) Hassan Afzal, a police inspector and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) for committing misconduct.

The action against these police officials has been recommended in the light of an inquiry conducted by Gujranwala City Police Officer (CPO) Rana Ayyaz Saleem, who also holds the charge of Wazirabad district police officer (DPO).

A strongly-worded confidential report sent to Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar, unveiled many serious violations allegedly committed by Mr Afzal, a Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officer, to victimise an innocent citizen for personal gains.

The report (a copy of which is also available with Dawn) accuses the SSP of misuse of authority, getting a citizen kidnapped and then implicating him in different fake criminal cases.

The RPO recommended action against the SSP and two other policemen after allegations against them proved true in the initial inquiry. Mr Afzal is currently serving as DG Khan DPO.

The inquiry officer says Mr Afzal enjoyed full backing of the then Gujranwala RPO.

“But he (SSP) unfortunately breached the trust by committing a reprehensible act which is not befitting a PSP officer”, reads the report, adding that he also tried to hoodwink the system and his seniors by feigning ignorance about these during the inquiry.The IGP has recently taken action against two DPOs and an SP from Lahore, who were later made officers on special duty (OSDs), showing no leniency to the PSP officers.

The police high-ups believe that culture of misuse of authority and misconduct was particularly prevailing among the new lot of the PSP officers for lack of guidance by their senior colleagues.

In the past, they say, the senior police officers used to hold counseling sessions for the younger officers on field postings, but this practice has been abandoned for the last many years.

The inquiry report states that two businessmen, Haji Akram Bhattey Wala of Faisalabad and Khalid Mahmood of Toba Take Singh, had a monetary dispute. It says Wazirabad SHO Mohammad Amjad, in connivance with Haji Akram, allegedly got kidnapped Khalid at the behest of the Mr Afzal, brought him to Wazirabad and then lodged fake cases against him.

It says a fake case was lodged against Khalid on the complaint of ASI Basharat Ali. However, he was later discharged in the case by a magistrate.

Later, the Toba Tek Singh Sadar police also registered a case of kidnap of Khalid on May 19 against unidentified persons.

The report states Khalid was also nominated in a robbery case registered by Wazirabad Saddar police.

“The case investigation was, however, again marked to ASI Basharat Ali and Khalid was nominated in the supplementary statement by the complainant without getting conducted his identification parade”, reads the report, adding the police showed ‘planted amount recovery’ and sent him to judicial lock-up.

The report says Wazirabad police again implicated Khalid in another case, claiming recovery of a pistol from him. Wazirabad DSP also confirmed in his report that the cases were falsely registered, showing bogus recoveries made from Khalid.

“During inquiry conducted by the Gujranwala CPO, the then SHO Mohammad Amjad admitted that the then SSP Operations Gujranwala had directed him to implicate Khalid Mahmood in various cases”, reads the report, terming the SHO guilty as he was not duty-bound to comply with the illegal orders of the SSP.

“It was not incidental that ASI Basharat Ali became investigation officer of three criminal cases lodged against Khalid Mahmood, rather it was planned to implicate him in false cases”, says the report.

The IO says it has been proved that Haji Akram kidnapped his rival Khalid in active connivance with the SSP Afzal and handed him over to the Wazirabad police to settle a business score. He says Khalid was kept in illegal custody by Wazirabad police, and subjected to third-degree torture.

It says later when Mr Afzal was posted as Bhakkar DPO, he again got a false rape case registered against Khalid in DG Khan.

The IO recommended to the IGP to take departmental action against the PSP officer and sought a high-level probe into the matter involving alleged illegalities committed in the three districts by the SSP.

About the inquiry report, Mr Hassan Afzal claims he was not inquired about the matter at any forum.

“Neither I am contacted verbally, nor in writing”, he told Dawn, adding that how can a report be submitted against an officer, who was not made part of an inquiry at any stage.

“It’s not hearsay, but needs concrete evidence,” Mr Afzal claims.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2023