SSP Operations Kiani transferred from capital’s police force

Replaced by SSP Najeebur Rehman Bugvi from Motorway Police

ISLAMABAD: In the first major shake-up in the capital’s police force, after it got a new chief last month, SSP operations has been transferred from the force.

Moreover, the Assistant Inspector General of Special Branch, Captain (retired) Mohammad Ilyas has also been removed and his services have been laid at the disposal of the Punjab police.

According to a notification issued by the Establishment Division on Thursday, Senior Superintendent of Police Sajid Kiani, an officer in basic pay scale (BPS)-19, has been moved on to the Intelligence Bureau.

Kiani was the SSP for police operations in the capital, one of the most important posts in the force, and oversaw day-to-day operations of the police, including investigations and the Safe City project. He also oversaw a host of search operations in different parts of the capital.

SSP Kiani was first appointed as SSP Headquarters back in August 2013 but was later handed the charge of operations.

The government has replaced him with another BPS-19 officer, Najeebur Rehman Bugvi. A notification of the appointment was also issued.

From the Police Service of Pakistan, Bugvi was previously deputed with the National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP), under the Ministry of Communications.

Before that, SSP Bugvi has spent time in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police serving as SP Traffic and later as SSP operations.

The shakeup comes just over a month after Islamabad Police’s top cop was changed. On December 8, the government had removed former top cop Khalid Khattak, replacing him with Azam Khan Temuri.

Over the period of a year, the Islamabad Police has seen major shakeups. In March 2017, IG Tariq Masood Yasin was transferred. He was replaced by Khattak, who only lasted in the slot for eight months.

Moreover, last year also saw the return of SSP Asmatullah Junejo, the cop who had been assaulted by protesters during the 2014 sit-in and was later suspended by the authorities under murky circumstances.

A month later in November 2017, Junejo was handed the tough job of AIG Operations in the capital’s police department — making him SSP Kiani’s supervisor.

SSP Junejo’s appointment as AIG Operations was accompanied by another raft of changes including the transfer of SP Hassan Iqbal from the post of Saddar SP to be the new PSO to the Minister of Interior. SP Iqbal had been replaced by SP Aamir Niazi. SSP Muhammad Suleman was handed the post of SSP Security along with the additional charge of AIG Establishment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2018.