Punjab govt hits back at Centre over CCPO’s suspension

Tension between the federal and Punjab governments grew on Sunday over the issue of the suspension of the Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mehmood Dogar.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the Chief Minister’s Adviser on Home Affairs Omar Sarfraz Cheema said that since the CCPO was working in Punjab, he was "at the disposal of the provincial government".

He said he Punjab government would not suspend Dogar on the “whims of the federal government".

Cheema said the act of placing a provincial government official under suspension at the disposal of the federal government was akin to "undermining the provincial government's authority", which he termed "unacceptable".

He maintained that to his knowledge, the CCPO would approach a court on Monday against the order of the federal government.

The adviser asserted that the Punjab government would wait for the direction of the court. "The court's orders will be executed in the letter and spirit," he added.

The federal government had issued orders to suspend the CCPO after the Punjab cabinet moved for transferring Inspector General Faisal Shahkar.

Amid mounting political tension between the PTI and PDM, the Punjab government wanted to transfer IG Shahkar, while the federal government wanted him retained.

A notification issued by the Establishment Division on Saturday read that Additional IG Ghulam Mehmood Dogar (BPS-21) had been placed under suspension.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2022.