Two police officers vying for SSP Operations job

PESHAWAR: Two police officers are among the frontrunners for posting as deputy city police chief of the provincial capital as the incumbent Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Javed Iqbal is likely to proceed for the mid-career management course starting from the first week of February.

A source informed that one of the officers under consideration is serving in a southern district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while another is posted in a district northeast of Peshawar.

The source said that some other officers are also seeking this high-profile posting in Peshawar.

Javed Iqbal has served as SSP Operations for over a year. He had replaced Sajjad Khan, currently posted as district police officer in Mardan.

The Peshawar Police ran an aggressive campaign against ice and other drugs and busted a number of gangs during the last one year. The recovery of ice in Peshawar was over 20 kilograms in 2018 while 26 kilos was recovered from the whole province.

It also arrested a number of suspects and hardened criminals in intelligence-based operations as well as search and strike actions.

According to the capital city police authorities, the terrorist incidents went down in Peshawar during 2018 by 57 percent. The target killings came down by 50 percent compared with the year 2017.

The police arrested over 5,500 criminals involved in different crimes during the year.

The new deputy city police chief will face a tough challenge to lead the operations against the hardened criminals as well as terrorists to ensure peace in the provincial capital. Peshawar has remained the prime target of terrorists and criminals in recent years.