LAHORE: An ordinance that was ready to be promulgated on Tuesday evening to counter the Lahore High Court direction to appoint an IGP for three years, was withheld at the last moment after realising it was unwise to oppose the court at this juncture.

The draft ordinance, that was to amend Police Order 2002 so as to change IGP`s appointment procedure to continue with the outgoing incumbent, has not been discarded and will be taken up for promulgation at an opportune time in near future.

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday heard a petition seeking appointment of a permanent IGP in place of the former acting IGP, Usman Khattal(. In its last hearing it wanted appointment of an IGP for three years as per PPO 2002, saying Mr Khattal( did not qualify to be the IGP as he would retire after just three months.

On Wednesday the court was informed that Mr Arif Nawaz Khan had been appointed the new IGP and he could serveforthree years.

Official sources informed Dawn that the Punjab government reviewed the last LHC direction in detail and was told by its legal experts that itwould deprive at least 28 senior police officials, having less than three-year service left on their credit, the very right to aspire for or seel( the appointment as the IGP.

A team of government officials decided to have the PPO amended so as to remove the condition which provided for a three-year tenure for the IGP so as to counter the raison d`etre of the court direction.

A draft was prepared and almost 95pc work for the ordinance`s promulgation was completed.

Official sources said it was provided in the draft ordinance that the tenure of the posting of the IGP would be two years instead of the existing three `provided he does not retire earlier.` This meant that he will be posted for two years or till the attainment of superannuation whichever comes earlier.

Sources said another amendment was that `the federal government which appoints the IGP (and the chief secretary) of a province can withdraw him before the completion of his tenure. And the province (Punjab) can also repatriate the IGP with the approval of the federal government before the completion of the tenure.

They said when the draft ordinance that was to amend the PPO was to be signed by the final authorities a meet-ing was called last (Tuesday) evening to once again assess its viability.

During the meeting which went on till late in the night came a new proposal to totally eliminate the condition of giving any tenure to the IGP. But when these and other options were being weighed, the final decision came from the higher-ups. And that was to avoid opposing the court by pressing for the retention of Mr Khattak as it was useless to do so mainly because the of ficer himself was going to be retired from service in just three months.

The federal government was contacted and asked to appoint Additional IG Arif Nawaz Khan as IGP for he could serve for three years as per the direction by the court.

Sources said the idea behind the retreat could be to dispel the impression that the provincial government or bureaucracy had something in mind against the court orders. Another idea could be to let the affected senior policemen themselves fight a legal battle if they wanted to secure their rights.

Some senior officers said the government could still amend the PPO under the Constitution to elaborate appointment of the IGP. `That is why the draft law has not been discarded, a senior officer said on the condition of anonymity.