Time to purge police force of black sheep

The case of a missing SSP has got on the nerves of almost whole of the Punjab police force, which is trying to crack the mystery whether the senior cop is willfully missing or got kidnapped.

Now, the buzz word is that SSP Mufakhar Adeel was not a clean officer with involvement in a number of ‘illegal’ activities.

The Lahore police are now dealing with a lot of queries about his dubious dealings implying that his disappearance from the scene is deliberate.

The police are determined to trace the missing SSP soon and also mulling to dig into the Human Resources Department’s affairs.

The pressure is multiplying on the government to clean the top rung of the police ladder by initiating strict action against officers linked to ‘murky dealings’.

The city of Lahore is an ‘attractive’ destination for officers who have ‘other’ plans than fight the crime. The posting here is like hitting a goldmine. If one looks at the past, the list of such officers is not short. Such officers after getting posting in Lahore started minting money and looting the national exchequer.

Many such officers are part of the qabza mafia active in several parts of the city.

One such recent example was of SP Moaz Zafar who had occupied the property of an overseas Pakistani and then lodged a number of false cases against that innocent person and also put him behind the bar.

The man then sent his complaint to the prime minister after which the Punjab government had opted for strict departmental action against SP Moaz Zafar.

A DMG officer who was a son-in-law of a leading Sheikhupura politician was also jailed on charges of allotting government land illegally.

Ex-DIG Operations Lahore Ghulam Mahmood Dogar was removed on having links with qabza mafia. Former Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif had removed him from the post and did not give any field posting during the rest of his tenure.

It is now up to the Punjab chief secretary and the IGP to frame such a policy so that only dedicated and honest officers with an impeccable record can be posted in the city.

Reports from intelligence were compulsory for field postings in big cities, but this practice ceases to exist now.

There should be a powerful board at CS Punjab level and IG police level for doing transfers and postings and has the guts to resist the political pressure.

When a well-reputed officer would be posted it would change the thana culture ultimately ensuring relief to the general public.