PESHAWAR: The acute shortage of senior police officers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could be gauged from the fact that only two senior superintendents of police (SSPs) in grade-19 are presently posted as district police officers (DPOs) while in six districts the police force is headed by officers in grade-17 who are too junior to head any district, a source told The News.
Senior police officers argued they had requested the federal and provincial governments time and again to hand over the services of senior policemen to the province to head important ranges and districts. However, the number of senior officers in the province was further reduced after many retired or managed their transfer to other provinces.
According to the Police Order 2002, which Chief Minister Pervez Khattak is said to be implementing in letter and spirit, a district police officer must be a grade-19 SSP or at least a superintendent of police (SP) in grade-18. The SP Investigation in any district must be a grade-18 SP under the Police Order 2002. However, the province has only six officers in grade-18 presently posted as SP Investigation in the districts. The rest of the posts are filled by the junior grade-17 deputy superintendents of police (DSPs).
Many ranges and positions of DIGs are also filled by the officers in grade-19, thanks to the shortage of officers and refusal by those posted in peaceful parts of the country to be posted in KP.
A few senior and young police officers most from KP presently posted in Punjab and other provinces have shown willingness to be posted in the province. However, the government is yet to properly requisition their services.
A source said the province has only two of the sanctioned five positions in grade-21, eight of the 20 positions in grade-20, 21 of 32 positions in grade-19 and 42 of 76 positions in grade 18. The province is short of three officers in grade-21, 12 officers in grade-20, 11 in grade-19 and 34 officers in grade 18.
Presently, the capital city police officer (CCPO), a grade-21 position, is being held by the grade-19 SSP Ijaz Ahmad Khan. He was the ultimate choice of the bosses after no senior and competent officer was available or interested to be posted as CCPO of the troubled Peshawar district.
Among the senior SSPs in grade-19, Mohammad Ali Khan is posted as DPO in Abbottabad and Sher Akbar as DPO Swat. Among the junior officers, an assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in grade-17 Sadiq Hussain is posted as DPO Dera Ismail Khan. Among the deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), also in grade-17, Ghulam Habib is posted as DPO Dir Lower, Mohammad Javed as DPO Dir Upper, Khalid Naseem as DPO Shangla, Iftikharuddin as DPO Torghar and Mohammad Irshad as DPO Lower Kohistan.
Despite being too junior for posting against the key position, these officers are serving on important positions of DPOs. Among the SPs in grade-18, Sajjad Khan is posted as DPO Swabi, Rabnawaz Khan as DPO Nowshera, Anwar Saeed Kundi as DPO Tank, Ismail Kharak as DPO Lakki Marwat, Mohammad Iqbal as DPO Bannu, Atiqullah Wazir as DPO Karak, Mohammad Saleem as DPO Kohat, Shafiullah as DPO Charsadda, Gul Afzal Afridi as DPO Mardan, Ghulam Hussain as DPO Chitral, Akbar Ali as DPO Kohistan, Mohammad Ijaz as DPO Haripur and Khurram Rashid as DPO Mansehra.
The only five SPs in grade-18 posted as SP Investigation include Masood Khalil as SP Investigation Peshawar, Shah Nazar Khan as SP Investigation Abbottabad, Abdul Majeed Afridi as SP Investigation Mansehra, Gulzar Khan as SP Investigation Swat and Mohammad Younus as SP Investigation Chitral.
The rest of the 20 SPs Investigation are DSPs in grade-17, a clear violation of the Police Order 2002. They include DSP Shahid Ahmad as SP Investigation in Mardan, Akhtar Ali in Charsadda, Syed Israruddin in Nowshera, Nisar Ahmad in Swabi, Rasool Shah in Haripur, Nowsher Khan is Battagram, Mohammad Sadiq in Kohistan, Sardar Khan in Torghar, Rahatullah in Dir Lower, Bahruddin in Dir Upper, Mohammad Arif in Buner, Bakhtzada in Shangla, Bashir Ahmad in Kohat, Hameedullah Baloch in Karak, Shakirullah Bangash in Hangu, Mohammad Shafiq in Bannu, Sanaullah in Lakki Marwat, Mushtaq Ahmad in Dera Ismail Khan and Abdul Hayee in Tank.
