The Punjab government removed on Friday DIG Umar Sheikh from the post of capital city police officer (CCPO) Lahore months after he was appointed on the position following much controversy. The police officer’s transfer was authorised by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. He has now been posted as deputy commandment Punjab constabulary.
Former IG Punjab Shoaib Dastgir stands vindicated. But what a cost to pay for the police force as a whole.
Lahore CCPO Umar Sheikh removed from post https://t.co/LV2LATtuZh— Fahd Husain (@Fahdhusain) January 1, 2021
Sheikh’s appointment as Lahore’s chief police officer came on September 8. However, soon after his selection was authorised, then Inspector General Punjab (IGP) Shoaib Dastgir was removed from his post by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government after he refused to work with Umar Sheikh.
Dastgir was the fifth IG Punjab to be changed in two years under the PTI government.
A day earlier to Sheikh’s appointment being confirmed, the IGP had met CM Buzdar and requested to “transfer him to any other suitable place”. Reportedly, he had told the CM he would not continue as the IGP until the CCPO was removed.
Dastgir had complained that he was not consulted when the decision to appoint the CCPO was taken.
Sheikh’s removal has come following his and three other police officers’ promotions hanging in the balance. He had openly expressed reservations against the constitution of a central selection board that was to decide on his promotion
Mr. Ghulam Mehmood Dogar has been appointed CCPO Lahore pic.twitter.com/rhFY2JUcmo
— Azhar Mashwani (@MashwaniAzhar) January 1, 2021
Sheikh had expressed concerns over two police officers in the board who had opposed his promotion to the next rank in the previous meeting of the board as well.
A controversial CCPO
The CCPO has become a controversial man in Punjab right after his appointment. Sources within the police claim that the former IGP Shoaib Dastgir was not willing to work as the provincial police chief after PTI’s favourite man, Umar Sheikh, man some uncalled for remarks against him. The government, despite facing public backlash, replaced the IGP, not the CCPO.
Later on, on the horrible incident when a mother of two was gang-raped on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway, and the CCPO blamed the woman for this tragedy. “The woman called her brother instead of police and her brother telephoned the motorway police at 130 to send a police mobile,” he told.
After days, the CCPO tendered an apology for his comments.
Similarly, a foreign-educated sub-inspector, in the Punjab police, resigned from office after receiving verbal abuse from CCPO Umar Sheikh during a meeting reported the News.
The former sub-inspector handed in a two-line resignation letter in which he said he could no longer continue after the humiliating incident.
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Virk had reportedly answered a question during the meeting incorrectly when he was called a donkey’s son (Khotay ka bacha). The meeting was being chaired by CCPO on 22, September.
“Sheikh is here to silence Opposition”
There was also a view that the PTI brought in Sheikh to take action against the opposition. Sources in PML-N told GVS that after the party workers staged a protest in front of the NAB’s Lahore office, the government deiced to take a stern action against the local leadership. “Sheikh is in Lahore not to take action against corrupt officers or reform the police force. He is here to silence the opposition,” the source said.
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M Pitafi, a Lahore-based academic, told GVS that “CCPO Lahore has many roles to play. I do not buy the PTI’s version that he is here to reform the police or go after the gangs in Punjab. If it was the case, Nasir Durrani would have never been sent home”. He is of the view that the CCPO may reform the police to some extent but he is a role to play “in the wider political context”.