LAHORE: Inspector General of Police Javed Iqbal on Thursday called explanations from six senior police officers for attending an Iftar party hosted by US Consul General Carmela Conroy without getting permission from the quarters concerned, police sources said.“The IGP has directed the officers to submit their replies, in person or in writing, to him within three days,” Nabeela Ghazanfar, the chief spokesperson for the provincial police chief confirmed.
The partygoers included DIG Training Arif Nawaz, Punjab Constabulary Deputy Commandant and DIG Khadim Hussain Bhatti, Lahore VVIP Security SP Waqas Aslam, Elite Force SSP Maj. (retd) Shehryar, SSP Maj. (retd) Nasrullah, Headquarters SP Romail Akram and SSP (Adim) Tariq Abbas Qureshi.Police sources said the IGP had taken a strong notice of the presence of the six officers at the Iftar dinner. They claimed the officers needed a prior permission from either the police chief or the Foreign Office in order to attend the Iftaar party hosted by the foreign diplomat.
Carmela Conroy on Wednesday threw out a lavish Iftar dinner in the honour of police officers, and they had wasted no time to reaching her residence. A few of the above-mentioned participants had confirmed that they had attended the party but were of the view that they went to the dinner in their personal capacity and not as officials.Another source disclosed to this reporter that the Interior Ministry and some intelligence agencies were also seriously looking into the incident. The source claimed that the inquiry officers have also been asked to unearth possible ‘relations’ between the US diplomats and the officials of the Punjab police.
Meanwhile, DIG Operations Ghulam Mahmood Dogar has claimed that the officers had attended the Iftar in their personal capacity.“Yes, they were there in their personal capacity.” He was addressing a press conference at the office of the Iqbal Town SP on Thursday. Asked whether the invitations were sent to them in their official capacity, DIG Dogar replied: “Yes, invitations are always sent to officers in their official capacity.”A Punjab government official meanwhile informed this scribe that the provincial authorities were also looking into the issue “very closely”. He claimed that a punitive action could be taken them for breaking the law. – Nation
