ISLAMABAD - Balochistan had already warned the federal government about possible terrorist attacks in the province on the polling day but the centre turned a deaf ear to the Balochistan police’s request to post senior police officers in the province before general elections, The Nation has learnt.
Yesterday, Deputy Inspector General Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema’s vehicle was hit by a suicide attacker during his visit to Bhosa Mandi area of the city. Luckily, Cheema survived the attack but around 31 people lost their lives. Earlier, over 130 people, including Chief of Balochistan Awami Party Sardar Siraj Raisani, had lost their lives in a suicide attack during an election rally.
Talking to The Nation, a senior police official of Balochistan claimed that the province had brought security situation of the province into the notice of Establishment Division. He said that Inspector General Police had conveyed to the Secretary Establishment Division about the shortage of police officers in the province. He had requested the Establishment Division to post thirty to forty police officers in Balochistan before launching of election campaign but the federal government ignored the request.
Sources in the Establishment Division also confirmed that Balochistan police chief had sent a written request regarding the shortage of senior and junior police officers in the province. He said that Establishment Division had also forwarded the list of 16 police officers to Election Commission of Pakistan for getting its approval regarding transfer of officers in Balochistan but the decision could not be taken in this regard. He said several police officers were not ready to serve in Balochistan due to security risks and they always used their links for stopping their transfer in the province.
Earlier, IGP Balochistan Mohsin Hassan Butt told The Nation that Balochistan police are facing shortage of 30 plus officers in grades 18 and 19 and he already informed the federal government about the situation.
The Establishment Division had written a letter to ECP said: “the undersigned is directed to refer to the subject cited above and to state that Establishment Division intends to post 16 PSP/BS-19 officers to Government of Balochistan in terms of rotation policy enabling the government to meet the shortage of officers during general election 2018.”
The 16 officers, including Muhammaz Azhar Akram, Pervaiz Khan Umrani, Muhammad Abid Khan, Captain (Retd) Muhammad Shuaib, Dr Mazhar-ul-Haq Kakkhail, Yaseen Farooq Sheikh, Kamran Younis Malik, Akbar Nasir Khan, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Jamal-ur-Rehman, Fida Hussain Mastoi, Imran Ahmar, Khurram Shahzad Haider, Muhammad Ahsan Younis and Waqar-ud-Din Syed, are part of the Establishment Division’s list.
NOKHAIZ SAHI