Dastagir transfers 83 DSPs in massive reshuffle

It is third major change since new IGP took charge

LAHORE: In yet another massive reshuffle, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shoaib Dastagir has issued the orders of transfer of 83 deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) on Tuesday. It is the third major reshuffle since the new IGP took charge on November 26.

A day after assuming the charge, he had transferred at least four RPOs, CCPO Lahore, DIG Operations Lahore and 19 DPOs. A few days back, DIG Operations Lahore had reshuffled 22 SHOs. On Tuesday, the transfers and posting were made at circle officers’ level. At least 83 circle officers have been transferred and posted.

These included Ghulam Abbas, Shakil Ahmad Khokhar, Fatah Ahmad, Khalid Mehmood, Muhammad Shahid, Shahid Nawaz, ljaz Hussain, Farooq Ahmad Anwar, Muhammad Saeed Anwar, Fayyaz Hussain, Malik Daud Ahmad, Muhammad Saleem, Saeed Ullah Khan, Javed lqbal, Javed Iqbal, Nasir Hanif, Khalid Mehmood, Mudasar lqbal, Imran Abbas, Ehsan Ullah Shad, Muhamrnad Haseeb, Muhammad Khalid, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Sikandar, Syed Tahir Abbas Kazmi, Shamasuddin, Ghulam Mustafa, Naeem Abbas, Shabbir Ahmad, Moeen Ashraf, Humayun Iftikhar, Hassan Mehmood, Jawad Sakha, Ghulam Dastgir, Riaz Hussain Bukhari, Shahzad Manzoor, Fayyaz Ahmad Sheikh, Saif-ur-Rehman, Arshad Latif, Muhammad Anwar, Salaam Haider Shah, Mazhar Ahmad Gondal, Falak Sher, Abid Hussain Zafar, Inamul Haq, Fazal Abbas, Farooq Sultan, Ghulam Muhammad, Mehmood Haroon, Farhan Aslam, Muhammad Ilyas, Hafiz Muhammad Imtiaz, Hashim Mahmood, Malik Muhammad Naveed, Lal Muhammad Khokha, Nasir Nawaz, Ghulam Muhammad, Abdul Rehman, Fayyaz Ahmad, Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan, Athar Ali, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Gillani, Saif Ullah, Muhammad Usman, Ishtiaq Hussain Khan, Arshad Hayat, Muhammad Ibrahim, Ghulam Dastaghir, Zikria Yousuf, Ehsan Ullah Khan, Nasir Mehmood Bajwa, Muhammad Umar, Zulfiqar Ali, Muhammad Tauseef, Bushra Jamil, Shahzad Rafique, Muhammad Saleem, Zafar Javed Malik, Jamshaid Ali and Shafique Ahmad Chuadry.

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Datagir is the fifth IGP to be transferred and posted in less than one and a half years since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) formed government in Punjab.

Four IGPs that served before the incumbent Shoaib Dastagir included Captain (retd) Arif Nawaz Khan, Amjad Javed Saleemi, Muhammad Tahir and Dr Syed Kaleem Imam.

The random transfers and posting continued even after the resignation of former IGP Nasir Akbar Durrani as head of the Police Reforms Commission.

Besides IGP, DPOs and other senior police officers have also been transferred on basis of political victimisation and favour. Former DPO Pakpattan Rizwan Omar Gondal and Ibadat Nisar are few examples to be quoted.

The policy has invited wrath from police circles. Former additional IG Sarmad Saed Khan commented that frequent transfer postings promoted a situation of uncertainty. It not only disturbed the individual’s performance but his family also caused a nuisance for his family also. The transfers and postings were also a burden on the national exchequer as the officer had withdrawn money in the form of TA/DA.

He stressed the need for the completion of the tenure as promised in the law. If an officer was not capable of it, he should never be given postings.

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He said Quaid-i-Azam while addressing bureaucrats, had said governments come and go. They (bureaucrats) stay. They are the servants of the state.

He added when the bureaucrats were changed in this manner, it sent a message of bad governance.

He also condemned the postings on political whims stating that at one side, the bureaucracy was demanded to be apolitical. On the other, postings and transfers were politically inspired. This dichotomy should also be ended, he demanded.

Efforts were made to contact Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohahn but he remained unavailable.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2019.