IG Punjab wasn’t following the orders of PM: Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had reservations over the performance of Inspector General of Police Punjab, Muhammad Tahir, who was neither following the directives of prime minister nor implementing the policies on police reforms.

The IG Punjab was not following the directives and implementing the policies of PTI regarding police reforms, he said while talking to a private news channel.

The government has an agenda on police reforms in its 100-day plan, he said, adding that PTI contested the elections to carry out police reforms.

The present government wanted to provide justice to the victims of Model Town Lahore incident, he said.

The minister said that if a person did not follow the agenda of PTI regarding police reforms, then the government was not responsible to keep him.

To a question he said that chief minister Punjab also had a meeting with the IG and after following the due process, he was relieved.

Yesterday (Oct 9), a notification regarding Amjad Saleemi’s appointment as the Inspector General of Punjab (IGP) was withdrawn by the Establishment Division soon after it was issued by the provincial government.

The notification of new IG’s appointment was withdrawn on orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan, as the election body has placed ban on postings and transfers ahead of the by-elections on Oct 14.

In the place of Tahir Khan, who served on the post for a period of one month and two days, Amjad Saleemi was announced to be the new IGP of the province.

During General Elections of July 25, on the request of Election Commission of Pakistan, the interim government had replaced chief secretaries (CSs) and inspector generals’ of police (IGPs) of all four provinces in order to ensure impartial and transparent elections.