LAHORE: Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rana Abdul Jabbar suspended Faisal Town SHO Inspector Tariq Pervalz Chattha from service on May 9 after Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Zohaib of Johar Town police complained to the DIG that Faisal Town police deliberately delayed a first information report (FIR) and inserted unrelated sections in it.

The complainant stated that some people snatched his official weapon, cash and a cell phone on Model Town Link Road when he was heading home in plainclothes from duty.

The acting charge was given to additional SHO Sub-Inspector Muhammad Arshad on the same day, but he was also shown the dooron Monday for delaying the registration of a case and indulging in corruption.

Inspector Rizwan Qadir, who served as Kot Lakhpat SHO for four months in his last field posting, was the new officer who got Faisal Town on Monday. Mr Qadir was transferred as SHO from Kot Lakhpat around one and half months ago.

The suspension of two station house officers (SHOs) of Faisal Town police on multiple charges in four days has raised a question mark on the posting mechanism as well on Punjab government`s slogan of change in police station culture.

According to the police record, Inspector Qadir being the SHO faced suspension several times on multiple charges, including corruption, failureto control crime and patronising prostitution and gambling dens.

During his tenure as Gujjarpura SHO in 2005-06, Mr Qadir was suspended from service when dozens of vendors lodged a protest against him for receiving Rs100 bribe per cart.

According to a divisional SP, the posting of any SHO reflects the culture of society and there is a dire need to transform the society first.

He claims most of the SHOs in the capital city district police are posted on merit, but it is difficult for authorities to post officers on the basis of integrity and reputation which is a rare commodity in field ranks.

According to a police source, approximately 40 to 50 inspectors and sub-inspectors are rotated as SHOs in 83 police stations of Lahore andalmost all of them have faced multiple punishments, mostly suspensions, which is considered a minor punishment.

He says those officers have strongly realised that they will get any police station soon after being reinstated by same senior police officers who suspended them.

The SP, however, says a majority of inspectors and SIs posted as SHOs delivers results as far as crime fighting, law and order duties and public dealing is concerned.

He says that maximum punishments show that authorities do not spare those SHOs who cross limits, but they are again posted after some time due to their indispensability in certain policing matters. FAISAL ALI GHUMM AN