Three SPs sacked for not joining duty in northern area of Pakistan
Pakistan Times National News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Establishment Division has dismissed three senior policemen of the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) and is also in the process of fixing others for not complying with the government’s orders of joining duty in the troubled Gilgit.

Senior spokesman of the Establishment Division confirmed that three SPs, one in BS-19 and two in BS-18, have been removed from service. These include Lt-Col (Retd) Farman Ali, Malik Nasimul Haq, and Najaf Quli Mirza. Ali was in BS-19 while the other two were BS-18 officers.

After a high-level meeting held a few months ago to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation in Gilgit, the government decided to introduce administrative changes in the Northern Areas by bringing in senior police and district management group officers.

The government changed the chief secretary and inspector-general of the Northern Areas. Major (Retd) Tahir Masud was sent as new Chief Secretary replacing Farid Khan whereas Sarmad Saeed was appointed as Inspector-General Police NA replacing Shakiullah Tareen.

The top administrative reshuffle was followed by certain other changes of top district level belonging to the District Management Group and the Police Service of Pakistan. A number of officers were transferred but except a deputy inspector-general, no-one joined the Gilgit posting apparently, because of a series of sectarian killings and high tension there.

The police officers transferred at the initial stage included Lt-Col (Retd) Farman Ali, Najaf Quli Mirza, Syed Hamad Hyder, Nasimul Haq, Lt (Retd) Jan Muhammad and Sabir Hussain as SSP and SPs in the region.

The District Management Group officers transferred included Khurram Agha and Saadullah as Deputy Commissioners.

The government decided to proceed against others and issued show-cause notices that most of the officers did not receive. While some officers like Saadullah of DMG and Lt (Retd) Jan Muhammad of the PSP joined their new assignments in Gilgit, others who were not receiving the show-cause notices issued to them, were issued a notice for personal hearing through newspapers on April-16.

The officers including Farman Ali, Jan Muhammad, Malik Nasimul Haq, Syed Hamad Haider and Najaf Quli Mirza were asked to appear before the Secretary Establishment on 19th April for personal hearings.

Following this public notice, Jan Muhammad joined his posting while others appeared before the Establishment Division but failed to convince the authorities of their failure to respect the government’s order. Consequently, three were dismissed while Haider’s case has been referred to the Health Ministry.

The Establishment Division has also issued transfer orders of police officers including Major (Retd) Mubasshirullah, Capt (Retd) Abbas Malik and Capt (Retd) Khalid Khattak for the posting in Northern Areas. The orders were issued last week and the government expects that these officers would join their new assignments.●