Former Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) Kaleem Imam on Sunday rubbished the claims levelled by National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) chief Mehr Khaliq Dad Lak, in the report on Pakpattan incident that he was under any sort of pressure.
NACTA chief, in his report, had stated that Imam “acted as a rubber stamp” by transferring former Pakpattan district police officer (DPO) Rizwan Gondal on a directive issued from the Chief Minister’s Office.
The former Punjab IGP submitted his response before the Supreme Court (SC) countering the allegations levelled against him by the NACTA chief. Imam raised several questions to the above-mentioned statement and the report in general, saying that “calling an officer in charge of the 5th command post a ‘rubber stamp’ raises a big question mark”.
“Khaliq Dad Lak’s report regarding my role in the incident is based entirely on assumptions,” he has stated.
The former Punjab IGP said that the NACTA chief’s report which alleges that Imam was under political pressure has provided no evidence of this “hypothetical”.
Shedding light on the events surrounding the incident, Imam said that the AIG Investigations was tasked with conducting a probe into the incident on August 25.
On August 26, verbal orders for the DPO’s transfer were issued at 10pm following which written orders were issued at 1am, Imam wrote in his response.
“An IGP transferring an officer during the course of an investigation is a routine task,” the former Punjab IGP asserted.
“How is it that without knowing the contents of the telephonic conversation the call data records are being termed as pressure on the IGP?” Imam said, questioning the veracity of the report’s findings.
He said that the report mentions pressure being exerted, but does not provide evidence as to what the nature of the pressure was.
“I received a call from the chief minister’s principal staff officer at 11:50pm,” the response stated for the record, adding that by that time the DIG Headquarters had already received orders for the transfer of the Pakpattan DPO.
Imam further stated in his defence that DPO Gondal had not conducted an inquiry into the misconduct of two officers with a woman member of the Maneka family during the run-in with the police.
The former Punjab IGP also said that Gondal had failed to apprise him of the complete account of the incident and that it was during the investigation into the misbehaviour of police officials with Khawar Maneka’s daughter that the DPO was transferred.
