Former Punjab IGP submits inquiry report of Pakpattan incident to SC

ISLAMABAD: Former Punjab IGP Kaleem Imam submitted an inquiry report of Pakpattan incident to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. 

Reports of Pakpattan District Police Officer (DPO) Rizwan Gondal's transfer sparked a controversy earlier this month, as speculation suggested that the police officer was transferred because of the August 23 altercation between the police and Khawar Maneka — the former husband of Prime Minister Imran Khan's wife.

The then-Punjab IGP Imam, soon after the reports, denied that Gondal was transferred under any pressure and said it was done due to misleading statements given by the officer about misbehaviour of police personnel with a citizen.

In the inquiry report, Imam maintained that there was no political intervention in the case. 

According to the inquiry report, Gondal was summoned by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar without taking the police chief in the loop at 10pm. 

Ahsan Iqbal Jamil, a close friend of the Maneka family, was part of the meeting on Punjab CM Buzdar's request. The chief minister's Personal Staff Officer Haider Ali seated Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sahiwal in the committee room and Chief Secretary Officer Rana Umer Farooq did the same upon DPO Gondal's arrival. 

After the police officers were seated in the committee room, Jamil arrived. The chief minister's staff exited the room after Buzdar entered it.  

The inquiry report says that the Jamil complained about the incident that happened with the Maneka family. He spoke about police officers grabbing the hand of Maneka's daughter and shoving others. 

Maneka was under severe mental stress following the incident, the report said. The police did not take any action against the accused officers despite sending messages through numerous friends, it further added. 

According to the report, DPO Gondal confidently cleared his position to the RPO and chief minister. He further said to Jamil that if conveying messages meant that he was expected to visit a person's dera to apologize, he would not do so. 

The chief minister did not intervene during the conversation between DPO Gondal and Jamil. 

Later, Chief Minister Buzdar directed RPO Sahiwal to personally resolve the matter on an immediate basis. On the other hand, the cross-examination of RPO Sahiwal had shed light on the meeting, which took place in a friendly and positive environment. The chief minister had also served refreshments to the guests during the meeting. 

The report states that the reason behind having the meeting in the chief minister's presence was to make the DPO and RPO aware of the matter's sensitive nature. Jamil was seemingly disappointed during the meeting as the matter remained unresolved, the report states. 

Jamil also issued an apology if any steps taken by him were unpleasant for the police officers.  

Furthermore, the report states that police officers were neither harassed nor pressured. The then-Pakpattan DPO had felt that he was being pressured and he did not like that. The report further adds that the chief minister had summoned the police officers as 'elders' in order to close the matter in accordance with the tribal traditions.