SSP Junejo returns to capital police after three years

He was beaten up by protesters in 2014 and later suspended by govt


Arsalan Altaf October 18, 2017
Asmatullah Junejo. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: SSP Asmatullah Junejo, who had been assaulted by protesters during the 2014 sit-in and was later suspended by the authorities under murky circumstances, has returned to the capital police after a hiatus of almost three years.

A notification in this regard was issued on Tuesday.

Junejo, considered to be an upright police officer, had been beaten up by protesters on Constitution Avenue on September 1, 2014, during the combined sit-ins of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

It was his first day in charge of the capital police after he had replaced former SSP-Operations Muhammad Ali Nekokara a day earlier. Nekokara too had been removed under murky circumstances for not using force to stop the protesters at the same sit-in.

A case to punish those who beat up Junejo is still being heard in the capital’s courts, while a police investigation was also launched to identify the cops who had abandoned him when protesters mobbed him, leaving him severely injured.

Junejo had to spend several days in the intensive care unit of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) with stitches on his head and a few other injuries. He was known among his staff and colleagues as an honest and professional cop.

However, a few months later he was suspended by his high-ups on allegations that he showed leniency in arresting a leader of proscribed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat for violating Section 144.

Many at the time believed that the issue was used as a mere excuse to remove him since he had developed differences with his superiors. He was subsequently subject to disciplinary proceedings but was ultimately exonerated from all charges in December 2015.

Later, he was transferred to the Pakistan Railways Police as an SSP in Rawalpindi before heading to the UK for a year-long course.

His services have now, once again, been handed over to Islamabad Police.

“Asmatullah. a BS-19 (Acting Charge) officer of Police Service of Pakistan, presently posted as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in Establishment Division, is transferred and his services are placed at the disposal of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police, under Interior Division, with immediate effect and until further orders,” read the notification issued by the Establishment Division on Tuesday. Junejo was not immediately available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2017.

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