CM’s aides scramble for ‘eligible’ candidates

LAHORE: Several police officers are said to running for the post of the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) after the removal of Ahmed Raza Tahir.

Senior bureaucrats are of the view that the grant of additional charge to a junior officer is a sign that the chief minister is likely to interview new candidates for the job. After the posting orders of Ahmed Raza Tahir were set aside by the Lahore High Court, the Punjab government has decided not to appeal the decision. Instead, it was learnt on Friday, the chief minister’s aides are busy making a new list of eligible candidates. There are some people at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat who want to re-interview Kalb-i-Abbas, Aftab Ahmed Cheema and Ahmed Mubarak.

The view is also shared by some of his senior aides. Kalb-i-Abbas and Ahmed Raza Tahir were reported as favourites when the chief minister originally interviewed five candidates for the job. Another lobby would like to see Zulfiqar Cheema, the Gujranwala RPO, to be trusted with the Lahore job. However, he is said to prefer his current assignment since he enjoys a free hand there, a privilege unlikely to be had in Lahore Another group is convinced that the government should post a more senior police officer to head the Lahore force.

It considers Chaudhary Tanveer Ahmed, the additional inspector general, the most suitable officer available for the job. Besides having already served in Lahore as SSP, he is known to enjoy the chief minister’s trust. It is noteworthy that three police officers including Irfan Mehmood, Salahuddin Ahmed Niazi and Arshad Saeed are presently officers on special duty in BS-21 with the Punjab government and Malik Khuda Buskh Awan and Muhammad Amin Waince are OSD in BS-20. The interviews of the candidates are likely to be conducted within a week, an official of Services and General Administration Department said.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 15th, 2010.