Top Punjab cops sacked in clusters again during the last 100 odd days

By Sabir Shah
January 23, 2019

LAHORE: Following the unfortunate Sahiwal incident, the Punjab government has perhaps tried to pacify the public rage by sacking the Additional Inspector General, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and an SSP of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), along with another concerned DIG, but this is not the first time during the last 100 odd days that the Usman Buzdar regime has fired top cops in clusters for one reason or the other.

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It is imperative to note that on October 30, 2018, the Punjab government had removed five top police officers accused of being involved in the Model Town Lahore killings of June 17, 2014. The officers removed from their posts and posted as Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) had included Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) both. Those shown the door had included Maroof Wahla, Tariq Aziz, Abdur Rahim Shirazi, Aftab Phelerwan and Imran Kamran Bukhari. A littler earlier than that, on October 17 last year, the Punjab police chief, Amjad Javed Saleemi, had removed 116 police officials, including a deputy superintendent and numerous inspectors, for their alleged involvement in the same tragedy, where 14 civilians were shot dead by law enforcers and over 100 others had sustained bullet and baton injuries.

In September 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered removal of police and district administration officials named in the Model Town case. The Punjab government, acting on the directives of the Lahore High Court, had made the report of the Model Town incident public on December 5, 2017. The inquiry report said the police officials had tried to cover up the facts regarding who had actually ordered them to open fire on the protesters. On October 9, 2018, Punjab’s Inspector General Police, Mohammad Tahir, was sacked from his posting by the Federal government on allegations of not complying with the posting/transfer recommendations of the key Pakistan Teheek-e-Insaaf (PTI) office bearers and government functionaries occupying high slots. Tahir had served on the prized, yet hot post, for only four weeks. The transfer was, however, suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan, calling it a violation of code of conduct ahead of the October 14 by-elections.

The ECP law had barred government from posting and transferring of state officials before the by-polls were held. The Federal Information Minister, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, was quoted as saying: “The Punjab police chief had been replaced because of his “failure to follow directives of the provincial authorities. The IG was not implementing the directives. We have sent a message to the bureaucracy that the PTI government means business.”

Just hours later, former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Police, Nasir Khan Durrani, had also opted to hang his boots, citing health reasons, and had refused to continue working as head of Punjab Commission on Police Reforms and Implementation, which was formed to rid Punjab police of political interference, grant autonomy to the Central Police Office and introduce various other reforms. Durrani was clearly apprehensive over IG Mohammad Tahir’s removal.

On October 15, 2018, Amjad Saleemi had taken charge as Punjab Inspector General of Police, a day after the by-polls and the federal government’s decision regarding the appointment of the police chief went in effect. Few other instances in Punjab and the Federal capital, where some highly-placed police officials were made to relinquish charge in not-so-distant past: On May 12, 2018, Punjab Additional Inspector General Investigation, Malik Abu Bakar Khuda Bakhsh, was removed from his post after differences with the-then Punjab Inspector General of Police, Captain Arif Nawaz. The sacked officer had proposed inclusion of Section 311 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the cops involved in the alleged extrajudicial killing of a young power loom worker called Mudassar in Kasur. Section 311 of PPC empowers a court to punish an offender against whom right of Qisas (the right to take the life of the killer) is waived.

IG Arif Nawaz had referred the case in January 2018 to the Punjab investigation branch, after it transpired that Mudassar was allegedly killed in a staged encounter in Iman Fatima rape case. Khuda Bakhsh had thus recommended stern action against the policemen responsible for the extrajudicial killing of Mudassar. On finding the report by Khuda Bakhsh, the IGP sought an opinion from some other senior police officers who opposed it. After IGP Arif Nawaz and Khuda Bakhsh reportedly got into an argument over the harsher punishment for accused police officials, the IG Police had recommended Punjab Chief Minister to transfer Khuda Buksh and a late night notification was hence released confirming the same. On April 1, 2015, the Federal government had dismissed Senior Superintendent Police Islamabad, Mohammad Ali Nekokara, from the Police Service of Pakistan following recommendations of an inquiry report conducted by inspector general of police Balochistan.

He had been dismissed from service for the” unlawful act” of refusing to perform his duty of intercepting protesters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehrik’s 126-day long sit-in during 2014. In May 2017, however, Mohammad Ali Nekokara was exonerated after three years and was reinstated. SSP Nekokara had appealed to the-then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whereby requesting the Premier to withdraw penalty against him. Earlier the officer had also approached judiciary but could not avail any relief. On August 21, 2014, Inspector General of Police Islamabad, Aftab Cheema, was removed from his post with immediate effect on one of the most crucial moments of the history of the federal capital. Aftab Cheema had served the Islamabad Police as an IG for four months and 20 days. Few media outlets, quoting sources in the Interior Ministry, had reported that Cheema had used different connections to get a 90-day ex-Pakistan leave granted with effect from August 18, 2014, but the authorities concerned did not accept the leave application and decided to remove him from the office as it was not the first time the ousted top cop had requested for a leave since assuming office.

Going a bit further back in history, on July 21, 2005, the Interior Minister of the time, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, had removed SSP Islamabad, Captain (retired) Liaquat Ali Khan and SP Headquarters, Sultan Azam Taimuri, for launching massive crackdown against religious seminaries. Captain (retired) Liaquat Ali Khan was the fifth SSP of Islamabad, who had been removed from the post in 10 years, before the completion of his stipulated tenure. Prior to him, his predecessors including Messrs Nasir Khan Durrani, Syed Kaleem Imam, Shahid Nadeem Baloch, Taimur Ali Khan and Khalid Khan Khattak had been removed on failing to maintain law and order in the Federal capital. The above-cited incidents are just a handful of many similar episodes that have taken place in Punjab and Islamabad over the years.

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