GUJRAT(National Times)- In a surprise move, the Punjab government transferred Gujrat district police officer (DPO) Akhtar Farooq, who was posted here just three-and-a-half months back.

Mr Farooq has been immediately replaced with Faisal Shahzad, a BS-19 officer of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), as the new DPO.

Previously, Mr Shahzad was posted as AIG (Logistics) at the Central Police Office (CPO) in Lahore. Akhtar Farooq has now been posted as CPO AIG (Logistics).

Official sources say that usually officers remain posted as DPO for at least a year, before they are considered for transfer. Interestingly, the previous Gujrat DPO Rana Umar Farooq was also transferred after eight months of his posting in the district.

The early transfer of Mr Farooq, who is a well-reputed officer and a recipient of civil honour ‘Tamgh-e-Imtiaz’ has surprised local official circles.

Mr Farooq had completed the Senior Management Course (SMC) days before his posting as Gujrat DPO, which a mandatory step for a police officer to be considered for promotion BS-20.

New DPO Faisal Shahzad has also completed the SMC. Both the outgoing and the incoming officers are from the 37th Common Training Programme (CTP) of the civil service.

Local political sources claim that Mr Farooq’s transfer is an outcome of a rift between the ruling coalition partners, the PML-N and the PML-Q, in Gujrat district, appearing in the wake of the recently held elections on refugees seat in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, LA-38. Following the AJK polls, Gujrat police had also booked at least 45 workers of the ruling PML-N after some participants in a victory rally resorted to aerial firing at Jalalpur Jattan after the party nominee won the seat.

The local PML-N cadres had accused the PML-Q ministers of getting the case registered against the PML-N workers, whereas the Q League had outrightly rejected the allegation.