Pakpattan DPO transferred for not ‘apologising’ to first lady’s ex-husband

–Khawar Maneka reportedly abused police officials for stopping his car after he sped away from a picket on Aug 23

–Punjab IG says DPO was transferred because he had ‘misreported an incident in which police officers had misbehaved with a citizen’

LAHORE: Pakpattan District Police Officer (DPO) Rizwan Gondal was on Monday ordered to relinquish his charge after he reportedly refused to apologise to Khawar Maneka, the former husband of Pakistan’s first lady Bushra Imran, over a Aug 23 incident in which police officers had chased and intercepted his car after he sped away from a checkpoint.

According to police sources, Khawar Maneka lost his cool and abused police officers when they intercepted his car around 1am on Aug 23.

“Khawar was given a signal to stop at a picket but he didn’t do so. Following which, the police chased and intercepted his car,” the sources told Pakistan Today.

Maneka then reportedly called DPO Gondal and asked him to suspend the officers who had stopped his car. However, Gondal refused to initiate an inquiry, saying that his personnel had done nothing wrong.

Later, Gondal and the Regional Police Officer were reportedly summoned by Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar at his 7-Club Road office and told to go to Maneka’s Dera (village outhouse) and apologise to him. The senior police officer refused to do so, said the sources.

Gondal, who is known to be an honest and upright officer, was then ‘transferred’ by the Punjab Inspector General of Police Syed Kaleem Imam.

After news of the senior police officer’s ‘transfer’ went viral on social media and drew the people’s ire, Punjab IG Kaleem Imam in a statement denied that DPO Gondal was removed from his post due to pressure from ‘certain quarters’.

“Gondal was removed for misreporting an incident in which police officials misbehaved with a citizen,” the IG said in his statement. The police chief, however, did not mention whether the citizen was Khawar Maneka or someone else.

Kaleem Imam further stated that an inquiry has been initiated against Gondal for misrepresenting the notification of his transfer on social media.