ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday changed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Aamir Zulfiqar Khan and appointed Qazi Jamilur Rehman in his place.

As per the notification: “Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan, an Officer of BS-21 of Police Service of Pakistan, presently posted as Inspector General, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police, under the Interior Division is transferred and directed to report to the Establishment Division with immediate effect and until further orders.”

Interestingly, the new IG Islamabad is one grade junior than his predecessor. The notification for the appointment of the new IGP states that “Qazi Jamilur Rehman, a BS-20 Officer of Police Service of Pakistan, presently serving under Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is transferred and posted as Inspector General, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police, under Interior Division, in his own pay and scale, with immediate effect and until further orders.”

Qazi Jamilur Rehman replaces outgoing police chief Aamir Zulfiqar

Rehman headed the Special [Surveillance] Branch of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police. He also served as the regional police officer in some KP districts as well. Qazi Jamilur Rehman is likely to take charge today (Thursday).

The change comes in the wake of the recent Osama Satti firing incident in which the capital police had gunned down the 21-year-old young man on Jan 2.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had also recently pointed out that the government had failed to enforce law within 1,400 sq miles of the federal capital.

Aamir Zulfiqar Khan had chaired a meeting on Wednesday to review the crime situation, officers in the capital police said on condition of anonymity said.

Mr Khan immediately relinquished his charge on receiving the notification and left the IGP House, the police officers said.According to police data, heinous crime fell by 20pc in 2020 while significant headway was made in curbing corruption and combating drug and land mafias. Among major crimes solved was the high profile murder of Maj Laraib who was killed in a park. Another major challenge during the outgoing IG’s tenure was the dharna in Islamabad of JUI-F in 2019 which was handled peacefully without any major mishap.

Aamir Zulfiqar was appointed IG Islamabad in November 2018 after the then IGP, Jan Mohammad, left the charge. He had also served as IGP National Highways and Motorway Police.His tenure was the third longest since the creation of the capital police force in January 1981. IGP Khan served as police chief for two years, two months and two days.

The longest tenure was of the first police chief of Islamabad, Mohammad Nawaz Malik, who served from Jan 1, 1981 to Aug 8, 1986, followed by retired Maj Mian Zaheer Ahmed who remained the IGP from Nov 19, 1999 to March 20, 2002.

During his tenure, aerial surveillance was introduced by the police and over 900 police officials were promoted to the next ranks, the highest number during the term of any police chief.

On the other hand, Qazi Jamilur Rehman was presently serving as RPO Hazara. He also remained the civil judge at the District and Sessions Court Peshawar. He later got training at the National Police Academy between November 1998 and September 1999.

Mr Rehman also headed a number of joint investigation teams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and worked with various UN programmes as consultant.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2021