LAHORE - Four police officers, who refused to work as subordinates of newly-appointed Inspector General of Punjab Police Dr Syed Kaleem Imam, have been repatriated to the federal government and the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD).

Talking to The Nation, Additional IG (Discipline and Inspections) Dr Ijaz Hussain Shah said that these officers are senior, but they are not entitled to posting as inspector general of Punjab Police. He said that it was purely discretionary power of the prime minister to appoint any officer as IG. He said that ignored senior officers could not challenge the prime minister’s decision in any court of law.

The only entitlement of the officers is to get promotion on time and they have that. The blue- eyed of Nawaz league government still continuing including Iftikhar Ali Sahoo secretary planning and development serving in Punjab for the past 15 years and Hamza Shahbaz is backing him.

Asadullah Khan, presently posted as secretary for forests, was in-charge of Multan metro project and he was obliged by the former chief minister.

Sara Aslam, secretary for implementation (blue-eyed officer of former chief secretary and home secretary Azam Suleman, is presently posted as chief secretary of Sindh. Several other officers of previous government have also been retained.

The police officers who refused to work under new IG are Additional IG (Special Branch) Faisal Shahkar, Punjab Constabulary Commandant Hussain Asghar, Lahore Capital City Police Officer Amin Wains and Additional IG Dr Ijaz Hussain Shah.

The appointment of Syed Kaleem Iman, a BS-21 officer, as provincial police officer (PPO), a BS-22 position, is being seen as a violation of the Police Order 2002. The government has repatriated three police officers to Islamabad and made the fourth one, Dr Ijaz Hussain Shah, OSD.

Dawn reported on June 21 that four police officers refused to attend the meetings under the command of newly-appointed IGP for being senior to their new boss.

The officers didn’t attend the meetings called by the IGP on Tuesday and Wednesday to oversee the proposed reshuffle of senior officers ahead of general elections.

When the IGP sought reasons for their absence, his staff officer told him that the four officers “flatly refused” to attend the meetings for being senior to him (the IG), an official privy to the information told Dawn on Wednesday.

The post of the PPO had been occupied by grade 22 police officers in the past in accordance with the Police Order, he said, adding that Punjab’s former IGP Arif Nawaz, who was replaced by Mr Kaleem, was also a grade 22 officer. Earlier, the former IGPs Mushtaq Sukhera, Khan Baig and Tariq Saleem Dogar were also grade 22 officers.

The official said to fill the slot of Punjab PPO, the federal government had recommended a panel of three police officers -- National Police Academy Islamabad Commandant Khalid Dad Lak, Federal Investigation Agency Director General Bashir Memon and Syed Kaleem Imam.

Interestingly, both Mr Lak and Mr Memon were grade 22 officers,

he added.

As Mr Imam was promoted to the rank of additional IG hardly a year back, his appointment against the BPS 22 post displeased the senior police hierarchy, the official said.

He said the four officers who refused to attend the meetings had been serving in Punjab as additional IGs for more than three years and belonged to 15th Common Training Programme (CTP).

Of them, two officers had requested the authorities concerned to surrender them to the federal government for further postings.