Repatriation of five absorbed police officers stayed.

PESHAWAR -- The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday issued a stay order stopping authorities from repatriating five police officers, who were absorbed in the police services of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to their respective provinces.

A bench consisting of Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued notices to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary and its inspector general of police (IGP) and sought their response to a petition jointly filed by five deputy superintendents of police against two notifications issued by the latter on March 16 and March 21 first to repatriate them and then to relieve them of their services.

The petitioners, including DSP at the Central Police Office Saleem Amanullah and four others, requested the court to strike those notifications down by declaring them illegal.

They also sought an interim relief from the court through the suspension of action on those notifications until the final disposal of the petition.

PHC seeks govt reply to joint plea of DSPs against move

Advocate Bilal Ahmad Kakaizai appeared for the petitioners and contended that the respondents, including the KP IGP and its chief secretary, had misinterpreted a Supreme Court order for the repatriation of the employees of certain categories, who were absorbed in the police department after their transfer to it on deputation from other departments.

He said two of the petitioners were initially appointed as assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) in Sindh in 1993 and 1996, whereas the remaining three were appointed ASIs in Balochistan in 1982, 1987 and 1988.

The lawyer contended that the petitioners were transferred from their respective provinces to KP through a proper channel before their absorption in the province's police department.

He said the service books of the petitioners were prepared and maintained and at the relevant time they were placed at the...