ISLAMABAD: Hearing a petition against politically-motivated transfers and postings in the Punjab Police, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the federal government and provinces to submit within two weeks last eight-year record of the shakeups in different police departments in the country.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ayesha Malik and Justice Athar Minallah extended the scope of the case to the federal government and other provinces on the request of the petitioner. The petition seeking appropriate orders to stop illegal political interference in police matters was filed by Rana Tahir Saleem, a resident of Faisalabad.
The petitioner also raised the issue of blatant violation of the Police Order 2002 regarding the security of tenure and in transfer-postings of police personnel from station house officers to inspector general of police. During the hearing, the Chief Justice noted that according to the data, the average term of a District Police Officer (DPO) in Punjab was five months and 268 DPOs were transferred in Punjab over four years.