LAHORE: The Punjab government has picked up nine police offices for the top positions of Faisalabad and Sargodha police and finalised summaries for the chief minister for final consideration.

The Sargodha district police officer (DPO) is being transferred in the wake of serious allegations of sexual assault on an SHO’s wife while the Faisalabad regional and city police officers were already removed from their positions following the attack on police station of the district where three brothers were shot dead in the lock-up by their rivals.

An official, privy to the development, has told Dawn that the Punjab government is considering names of RPO Sheikhpura Athar Ismail, Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Sadiq Dogar and finance and welfare DIG posted in Central Police Office Ghazi Salahuddin. He said Athar and Sadiq belonged to 30th Common while Ghazi Salahuddin was two steps junior to them from 32th Common.

The official claimed that the Central Police Office (CPO) and some power corridors from Faisalabad wanted Athar to be posted as the Faisalabad RPO and they were lobbying for him at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. He said Sadiq Dogar was also considered another strong candidate for the same position as the CM Secretariat admired his performance as the CPO Multan. Some independent circles in Punjab Police also came to his support on the grounds that his ‘junior fellow’ was holding the slot of RPO Sargodha, bringing embarrassment for him (Mr Dogar) in his community for holding a relatively junior position in Multan for the last one year or so. The official said the police officers believed that Mr Dogar had served against the position for more than a year and he must be given an opportunity to get posted at the seat as per his batch/seniority.

However, the panel of three police officers picked up by the Punjab government for the post of RPO Faisalabad will be moved to the CM for interviews for final consideration.

For the CPO Faisalabad, the official source said, the IG had already moved a summary containing the names of AIG training Hassan Iqbal, AIG Development Bilal Umar and Bahawalpur DPO Asad Sarfraz. About the top slot of Sargodha police, DPO Asad Ijaz Malhi is facing inquiries following the serious allegations of sexual assault on a woman at the DPO house. The woman was stated to be the wife of an SHO serving in Sargodha and the matter had gone viral on social media when she came up with some more allegations of bribery in the posting transfer of the SHOs.

Though the top police officials had claimed that the woman had withdrawn her written complaint, the woman denied it and continued to press the government to inquire into it at higher forums by appointing the officers of good repute.

Following the controversies surrounding the allegations, the official source said, the IGP in consultation with the Chief Minister Secretariat took a final decision to remove the DPO Sargodha. At this, the IGP picked up names of three police officers, including former SSP Operations Lahore Sohaib Ashraf, Lahore SSP Administration Atif Nazir and Rawalpindi SSP Operations Kashif Zulfiqar to move the same to the CM for final consideration.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2025