Another officer removed from key post in less than 24 hours.

Byline: Asif Chaudhry

LAHORE -- Setting another example of the administrative mess the PTI government is in, a senior official was sent back to Punjab in less than 24 hours after his posting as the Islamabad operations senior superintendent of police (SSP).

Capt retired Mustansar Feroze, the district police officer (DPO) of Sialkot who was preparing to leave for his new assignment in the capital on Friday, learnt in the afternoon that the Establishment Division had cancelled the notification of his appointment.

Officials in the police and Establishment Division refused to give reasons for withdrawal of the fresh notification. Sources told Dawn that some officers in the police and the capital administration were not in favour of Mr Feroze.

A senior official told Dawn that a social media campaign against Mr Feroze made the Establishment Division withdraw the order it had issued on Thursday.

He said the campaign tried to link him to the Aug 2016 murder of Barrister Fahad Malik, a nephew of federal minister and former president Muhammadmian Soomro, in Islamabad. The social media posts claimed that Mustansar Feroze's brother Imran, a known lawyer of Islamabad, had appeared as a counsel of the accused. One post stated the officer was the Chiniot DPO at the time of murder and had provided safe passage to the killers.

The SSP (operations) position has been lying...