Motorway police chief replaced after inviting ire of two ministers
LAHORE: Apparently paying the price for standing up to two powerful federal ministers, a grade 21 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan has been removed from the post of inspector general (IG) motorway police and made an ‘officer on special duty’ — a euphemism used by the bureaucracy to refer to officials who have been ‘punished’ by high-ups.
A day earlier, the federal government directed ex-IG National Highways & Motorways Police (NH&MP) Salman Chaudhry to report to the Establishment Division until further orders, and appointed Rifat Mukhtar, who was serving as additional secretary in the Home Department, in his place.
However, sources privy to the development told Dawn that Mr Chaudhry had been shunted out after he resisted a proposal to shift administrative control of NH&MP from the Ministry of Communications to the Ministry of Interior.
In addition, the officer is also said to have offended the minister in charge of the communications portfolio on the issue of recruitments in the force.
Dawn reached out to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan to get their point of view, but neither responded to calls or written requests for comment.
Mr Chaudhry, who is a relative of incumbent Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman, assumed charge as NH&MP IG on Jan 10, 2024.
An official privy to the development traced the differences between him and federal minister Abdul Aleem Khan to the issue of recruitments in various ranks. The source said that Mr Chaudhry is one of the few senior policemen who had served in all four provinces at various senior positions, and was known among police circles as an upright officer.
“He survived two earlier attempts to transfer him. However, he couldn’t survive a third time.”
The bad blood that ostensibly led to his removal from the post can be traced back to a proposal, floated to transfer administrative control of the NH&MP from the Ministry of Communications to the Ministry of Interior.
Mr Chaudhry had opposed the proposal, the official said, which was presented in a recent high-powered meeting chaired by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif in Islamabad. Federal Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi, Mr Chaudhry and other senior officers were also present in the meeting.
Sources said that Mr Naqvi favoured the proposal, expecting that no one from the department would oppose it.
However, to his surprise, Mr Chaudhry opposed the idea, saying that NH&MP had attained a distinctive position in the country through effective enforcement by applying the highest standards of professionalism while remaining under the administrative control of the Ministry of Communications.
He insisted that transferring administrative control of the department to the Ministry of Interior might risk undermining or compromising its current standing.
Sources told Dawn that Khawaja Asif apparently supported Mr Chaudhry’s stance and endorsed the idea of leaving NHMP under the administrative control of the Ministry of Communications.
Consequently, the differences with two federal ministers led to the transfer of NH&MP IG Salman Chaudhry.
Sources claimed Mr Chaudhry was informed by his superiors that he would be transferred from his post in mid-February 2025 as a gesture of goodwill, which would give him the opportunity to complete a year at his position.
However, his early transfer orders also came as a shock to the experienced police officer.
There is an unwritten understanding in the bureaucracy that if an officer is transferred after completing a year at his post, it is considered a routine matter.
However, Mr Chaudhry’s transfer orders seem to have been issued in anger, as he has not been given any other charge and was “directed to report to the Establishment Division”.
Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2024