LAHORE: The Punjab Police is considering a proposal to regulate the transfer/posting criteria for the field officers to avoid ‘random selection’ of the blue-eyed officers for certain offices.

A policy draft has almost been finalised and it is likely to be taken up in the department’s upcoming executive board meeting for approval to give equal chance to all the officers qualifying for field postings.

The move follows the frequent allegations of political interference in the appointment of heads of the district police, a senior police officer told Dawn.

Requesting anonymity, he said the decades-old practice of making posting of the district police officers (DPOs) had not only undermined the authority of the provincial police chief but also resulted in victimisation of the officers who were left to serve on sidelined postings for not having connections in the political elite.

Recently, some events further necessitated the need to streamline the transfer criteria when the inspector general of police (IGP), in a meeting, requested Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi to let him make postings in the districts where he (the CM) had no ‘political interests’.

The officer said the CM’s abrupt reply had shocked the police chief when he (CM) suggested to him to make postings in Ghotki (Sindh), saying he (Parvez) had no political interest there.

Similarly, the source said, the random selection of the police officers as the DPOs also prompted the higher-ups to redefine the criteria.

For example, a BPS-19 officer, Tausif Haider, (33rd common) was presently serving as DPO Pakpattan while Rai Mazhar from the 41st common had recently been posted as DPO Hafizabad, the two districts of the equal status.

Tausif Haider had completed a senior management course (SMC) this October to qualify for promotion to BPS-20 (DIG rank). The huge seniority gap between the two police officers triggered a hot debate in the police circles on the controversial criteria of the Central Police Office (CPO) to make appointments of the DPOs. Some officers believed that Haider was given the opportunity to head the district at the time when he was qualifying for promotion to the DIG rank while his junior officers were getting the same positions he (Haider) was holding.

The officer said Mr Haider’s several junior colleagues belonging to 34th to 40th commons had served as the DPOs more than one or two times. He added that Mazhar’s appointment had opened a gateway for his other senior batch mates to compete for the postings as the DPO.

Mr Mazhar was at the 16th position in the said batch, the officer said and added that his other senior colleague, Hassan Afzal, the topper of the 41st batch, was currently serving as SP investigations Multan.

Other senior colleagues of Mazhar from the same batch included Lahore Security SP Sayed Aziz, Lahore Headquarters SP Muhammad Abdullah Lak, Muhammad Imran, Gujranwala Civil Lines SP Usman Tariq Butt and former Lahore Model Town SP Dost Mohammad.

The appointment of a police officer from 41th batch as the DPO also raised hope for the ‘experienced’ police officers belonging to the 42th batch to head the district police since the government added five new districts of the province recently.

As far as the 39th common is concerned, almost all the police officers in Punjab have commanded the police as DPOs except two, namely Fraz Ahmad and Asim Amin. Similarly, the officers belonging to the 40th common had also begun to get field postings and Abdul Rauf Babar, Rashid Hadayat, Imran Ahmad Malik, Shazia Sarwar, Furqan Bilal and retired Capt Mohammad Ajmal were some examples.

However, some officers from the same batch are facing victimisation from the relevant quarters as they have been sidelined due to many reasons. Such officers include Bilal Qayyum, the topper of his batch, Dr Anoosh Masood Chaudhry, Maaz Zafar and Asim Jasra. Of them, first three officers have rendered their services many times as divisional SPs to qualify for the DPO’s post, said the source.

The situation may further mount pressure on the CPO to ensure appointment of police officers on merit as the new DPOs while the IGP has already unveiled a policy to give a chance to the young officers to lead the district police instead of making posting of ‘repeaters’.

The new policy may deal with the above-mentioned issues of merit and it is likely to get the final nod in the coming meeting of police executive board.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2022