Umar Sheikh removed as Lahore CCPO

LAHORE: Umar Sheikh was removed from the post of Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Lahore, by the Punjab government on Friday.

He was replaced with Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, who was previously serving as DIG Technical Procurement, Punjab Central Police Office. His transfer reportedly took place upon a request, made to the prime minister by the Punjab chief minister.

A notification issued by the Punjab Services and General Administration Department stated thatMuhammad Umar Sheikh (PSP/BS-20), Lahore Capital City Police Officer (in his own pay and scale) is hereby transferred with immediate effect and posted as Deputy Inspector General of Police/Deputy Commandant, Punjab Constabulary, Farooqabad against a vacant post.

The notification stated that Ghulam Mehmood Dogar (PSP/BS-20) "is hereby transferred with immediate effect and posted as Capital City Police Officer, Lahore (in his own pay and scale)" in place of Umar Sheikh.

In a short span of about three months, Sheikh created various controversies. He made alleged remarks against the then Punjab IG Shoaib Dastgir, which caused the removal of the latter as he stopped working in protest against the allegations. Situation for him worsened when he outraged the general public by making such statements which implied that the Lahore Motorway gang-rape victim was partly responsible for the assault. His remarks were deemed inappropriate and indecent past endurance, by the civil society and human rights activists. They repeatedly demanded his removal, but the matter was only settled with an apology which he made to the victim and the public representatives.

During the last three months, dozens of officers including two DIGs, 4 SSPs, 16 SPs, and 25 DSPs were transferred. All these reshuffling was done in order to combat crime, but to no avail, as it only appeared to be on the increase. The crime rate escalated up to 25 per cent during 2020.

Last year, he replaced CCPO Zulfiqar Hameed for his 'daring and merit-based initiatives'. He claimed to convert Lahore Police into the “New York Police|”, but all his promises and claims were overwhelmed by his unnecessarily harsh criticism.

The newly appointed CCPO, Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, joined Police Service Pakistan as an ASP in 1993, and he belonged to the 21st Common Training Programme. He has served as the ASP Nawabshah, Pannu Aqil and Khairpur; SP Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi, Central District Karachi, Headquarters Garden Karachi; SSP Security Karachi; DPO Nasirabad; SSP Operations Quetta; CTO Lahore; AIG Training; CPO Punjab and DIG Operations Lahore.