Promoting disharmony: Police officers wait while juniors climb up the ladder

Senior police officers bemused by the news that their junior colleagues were promoted, they were kept waiting.

ISLAMABAD: Senior police officers including members of the Islamabad police were bemused by the news that while their junior colleagues in the District Management Group (DMG) were promoted from Grade 19 to 20, they were kept waiting.

The Central Selection Board (CSB) met in December 2010 to recommend officers for promotion. To the surprise of police officers, only nine of their colleagues were promoted, even though 34 officers of DMG and 52 from the Office Management Group (OMG) were bumped up, officials told The Express Tribune.

“Police officers who had political support were promoted while other equally qualified officers were not given their due right,” said a police official who had been patiently waiting for his ‘timely’ promotion.

Police officers were also denied the 12 vacancies that became available after the promotion of officers from grade-20 to grade-21.

“Many Inspector-Generals in the CSB meeting voiced their concerns and the then establishment secretary assured the CSB chairperson that a meeting will be convened within a month to address the grievances of the officers,” a police officer said.

He said that while a meeting was indeed convened a couple of weeks ago, the matter of promotions of police officers was never raised. Instead nine more members of DMG were given promotions.

“DMG officers recruited in 1996 (24th Common Training Programme) were promoted to grade 20 while police officers recruited in 1990 (18th Common Training Programme) are still waiting in grade 19,” complained another senior police official.

This officer further alleged that certain DMG officers promoted did not even fulfil the minimum requirement of 17 years of experience for promotion to grade 20.

The disappointed police officers said that the denial of timely promotions was breeding frustration among senior police officers. They demanded that the Establishment Division fulfil its promise to convene a CSB meeting to consider promotions for police officers who were neglected earlier.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2011.