Pakpattan DPO transfer case: Pressure was directly exerted from CM’s office, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday that pressure was directly exerted from the office of Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar for the transfer of former district police officer (DPO), Pakpattan, Rizwan Gondal.

National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) Coordinator Khaliq Dad Lak submitted an inquiry report in the Supreme Court in the matter relating to the transfer of Rizwan Gondal.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar, had assigned the task to Khaliq Dad Lak to conduct a fresh inquiry to ascertain if there was political interference in the DPO’s transfer.

Earlier, the chief justice had rejected the investigation conducted by former IGP Punjab Kaleem Imam over the matter. As per Khalid Dad’s fresh inquiry report, political pressure was exerted from CM Buzdar's office in the transfer of ex-DPO Pakpattan, while ex-IGP Kaleem Imam simply “rubber-stamped” the order.

“Orders of transferring ex-DPO Pakpattan at an odd time on 27-08-2018 flowed from CM office and ex-IGP only acted as a ‘rubber stamp’,” the inquiry report concluded. After the inquiry report was submitted, the court directed that the fresh report be given to the chief minister and ex-IGP. The court directed them to submit replies within three days.

The fresh inquiry report found that Ahsan Iqbal Jameel Gujjar – a family friend of Khawar Maneka, the first lady’s former husband – was threatening in his conduct at the meeting with Gondal at the Chief Minister’s Office and said if a similar incident ever occurred again, it will be a problem for everyone.

Similarly, the report observed that the former Punjab IGP’s conduct created the impression that there was pressure to teach Gondal a lesson, otherwise, he was behaving in a manner “more loyal than a king”.

Khawar Maneka, who was present in the court, claimed that events were misrepresented in the report. At this, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar asked him to submit his written reply in this regard.

The report noted that if the IGP had himself ordered an inquiry into the matter, whose report was finally received on August 30, 2018, then why he didn’t wait for the outcome of the inquiry and issued orders hastily prior to receipt of report on August 27, 2018 at 1:00am. It also points to the fact that pressure was from some other quarters.

The report further revealed that according to the IGP, he transferred the DPO to ensurefair play so that he was able to exercise his influence. "Even if we accept his contention, then the common sense demands that the inquiry order and transfer orders should have been issued simultaneously, which is not the case, as orders were issued on August 27 at 1:00am after delay of two days and this also raises eyebrows," the report pointed out.

"In the wake of these circumstances, it can be safely concluded that the orders of transferring ex-DPO Pakpattan at an odd time on August 27, 2018 flowed from CM Office and the ex-IGP only acted as a rubber stamp," Khaliq Dad concluded.

It is pertinent to mention here that former DPO Pakpattan Rizwan Gondal was allegedly transferred from his position after intercepting Maneka’s car in his capacity as DPO. As per the media reports, Maneka’s children were present in the car and police officials misbehaved with them. Later, Rizwan Gondal was called to a meeting at the Chief Minister’s Office where Gujjar was also present. He was asked to apologise to the Maneka family and subsequently transferred when he refused to apologise. The chief justice then took notice of the matter.