ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar appeared on Monday before the Supreme Court (SC).
Earlier today, the Supreme Court (SC) had summoned the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) in a case related to the transfer of former Pakpattan District Police Officer (DPO) Rizwan Gondal.
A three-member bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, heard a case related to the transfer of the former DPO after an alleged heated argument with Khawar Maneka, the former husband of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s wife.
The former Punjab IG Kaleem Imam submitted a report regarding the incident but Justice Nisar had rejected it and summoned the Punjab CM, Secretary Establishment and Ahsan Iqbal Jamil, a close aide of the Maneka family, at 2 pm today.
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The report submitted by the former Punjab IG read that the Punjab CM Buzdar’s involvement in the case was beyond the scope of the inquiry. According to the report, no one was responsible for the transfer of Gondal.
Justice Nisar got irked at the former Punjab IG and said, “We had faith in you and that’s why we directed you to prepare an investigation report into the incident but you did it with intended to hide the facts.”
“You will not be able to serve in the police if we recommend that,” he added.
The apex court judge remarked, “We trusted you to robe into the political intervention in the case but you broke our trust.”
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“What investigation did you conduct? The statements of the regional police officer and the DPO do not match,” the chief justice further questioned Imam.
“Why didn’t you stop the police officers from meeting the Punjab CM?” he further asked.
To this Imam responded that when he found out about the incident he was in Islamabad. “You were in Islamabad, not in another country,” CJP resonded.
After this, Justice Nisar asked if Punjab CM could appear before the court. IG Punjab told the court that he was in Islamabad.
The court summoned Buzdar and then adjourned ti2 pm2pm today.
Previously, the top court had taken a suo motu notice of the DPO’s transfer that had stirred a controversy, as speculation suggested that the police officer was transferred because of an altercation between police and Maneka.
According to reports, police personnel under Gondal’s watch tried to stop Maneka at a checkpoint for speeding but he did not stop. The police then chased his vehicle and managed to intercept him.
Soon after the reports, the provincial top cop denied that Gondal was transferred under any pressure and said it was done due to his misleading statements about misbehaviour by police personnel with a citizen.
