Minutes after the federal government’s decision to replace Punjab police chief Tahir Khan with Amjad Javed Saleemi on Tuesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) stepped in and suspended the move, citing as its reason the by-polls scheduled for October 14.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed head of the National Commission for Police Reforms, Nasir Khan Durrani, also resigned from his post on Tuesday.
Media reports suggested that Durrani took the decision in response to the transfer of Punjab IGP Tahir Khan.
Earlier, the Establishment Division had issued a notification to appoint Amjad Saleemi as the IG of the Police Department in the Punjab. The announcement came only a month and two days after the appointment of Khan, who has also served as the IGP in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa.
Taking notice of the matter, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (R) Sardar Muhammad Raza has summoned details regarding Khan’s removal from the position from the Election Commission Secretariat. The ECP has also written to the secretary establishment to halt the transfer. According to election commission officials, the police chief cannot be replaced due to the upcoming by-polls.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry defended the government decision by saying that Tahir Khan was removed for not obeying orders of the government. Though he did not clarify what particular order was disregarded by Khan, he insisted that he had exhibited carelessness towards institutional matters.
Chaudhry said, “We have given a clear message to the bureaucracy that we want work done. Only those who perform will continue to serve on their positions.”
Critics point out that by removing Khan from the office in an arbitrary manner, the PTI government had done exactly what it criticised its opponents for. Since the removal should have happened in accordance with the rules and the procedure laid out for the purpose.
The officer chosen for the IGP office in place of Khan, Amjad Saleemi joined the civil services on November 1, 1986. He belongs to the 14th Common division and his domicile is Faisalabad. He was previously a grade 22 officer of Police Service of Pakistan, serving as IG National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP). He is due to retire on January 31, 2020.
Published in Daily Times, October 10th 2018.
