Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh has once again stirred outrage amongst the public after having ordered the registration of a case against a senior police officer following an intense quarrel over not taking the CCPO into confidence on the arrest of the motorway suspect Abid Malhi and reaching late in a meeting.
CCPO Sheikh had called a meeting at 1:30am on Thursday at the Punjab Safe Cities Authority to discuss the plan regarding the Opposition’s rally in Gujranwala. SP CIA Asim Iftikhar Kamboh was also asked to join the meeting but was late to the venue on account of feeling unwell. His being late caused CCPO Sheikh to lash out at him.
CCPO Umar Sheikh is apparently a controversial man in Lahore. GVS News analysis explores his real job in the province; is he here to reform the police force to silence the Opposition? https://t.co/c7yTIXiTys pic.twitter.com/2AS4AGclWr
— GVS (@GVS_News) October 5, 2020
The CCPO ordered the Civil Lines SP to arrest the CIA SP, to which the CIA SP said he was not competent enough to do so. The CCPO then ordered the withdrawal of all perks from the SP and registration of a first information report (FIR) against him, to which the SP said he would punch him. The DIG Operations and DIG Investigations mediated and pacified both officers, reports Geo News.
During the exchange, the CCPO also asked the SP to stop working and return the official vehicle. However, soon after the CCPO changed his mind and stopped the Civil Lines SP from registering the FIR.
Later, it was learnt that the CIA SP also met Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Inam Ghani and apprised him of the situation. The police chief expressed displeasure with the CCPO and asked the SP to continue working. No police official was ready to speak on the issue on the record, reports Geo News.
Lahore CCPO apologises for controversial remarks
Days after CCPO Shaikh’s controversial and insensitive remarks blaming the survivor of the motorway gang-rape created outrage, the provincial capital’s top cop apologised for his statement. The Lahore CCPO drew trenchant criticism from almost every quarter after he pontificated last month that the victim had failed to take due precautions before setting out for her journey, in remarks to a private TV channel.
“What surprises me is that being a mother of three [young] children and the only driver [unaccompanied by an adult male], why would she not take the GT Road that has a population around it? If nothing else, she should have checked her fuel,” Sheikh told the channel.
Shaikh, recently posted as Lahore CCPO after a controversy involving the previous provincial IG, said if his comments had offended anyone then he apologises to not only the survivor but also to all others from the ‘depth of his heart’. “I had also earlier apologised for the statement,” the CCPO claimed. “There was no ill intention or motivation behind it.”
Earlier, Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan said that the entire provincial cabinet should have apologised for the CCPO controversial remarks against the Lahore motorway gang-rape survivor.
Read More: Reforming police or silencing opposition? What is CCPO Lahore’s job?
Hearing a miscellaneous petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N’s) leader Muhammad Malik Ahmed, demanding the removal of Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh, Justice Khan remarked that had the cabinet apologised for the CCPO’s remarks, the women of this nation would have felt safe. “Instead, the Punjab government’s ministers started defending the CCPO,” remarked the judge, adding, “The CCPO seems to be an officer of the Lahore ministers.”