Daily Times

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Ahsan Jameel Gujjar on Saturday file objections to a report prepared by National Counter-terrorism Authority (NACTA) chief Maher Khaliq Dad Lak on the Pakpattan DPO transfer incident.

In his response submitted to the Supreme Court, Gujjar termed that the report vague and contrary to facts. He described himself as an ordinary citizen who did not hold any government or public office who “thus, is not likely to cause any state of susceptibility or intimidation on part of the state functionaries, who even otherwise are not so gullible in terms of their official/administrative functions”.

“At best, the respondent may only be seen to have acted in a state of anxiety in a naive manner for which he had already expressed his remorse and repentance,” the reply said.

Gujjar had already offered an unconditional apology to the SC for his “unwarranted participation” in official matters.

In his reply, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar dismissed the Lak’s report.

The Punjab CM rejected those findings, claiming that the report was “absolutely conjectural, based on a figment of imagination of a fertile mind, rooted in probabilities and surmises, and therefore not worthy of any reliance whatsoever”. Buzdar’s reply further said, “The new report while treats the statement of Rizwan Gondal/DPO as gospel, it rubbishes all other statements without justifiable reasons and without much ado. The inquiry report merely rubberstamps the statement of the DPO.” Buzdar’s response also claimed that Lak held a grudge against the present government for not appointing him inspector general of Punjab. Buzdar, in his reply, asked for the report to be discarded for being lopsided, presumptuous and conjectural”. The NACTA chief had concluded in his report that the orders for Gondal’s transfer in the middle of the night “flowed” from the Chief Minister’s Office. Lak’s assessment had been based on a series of phone calls made on the evening of Gondal’s transfer between the Punjab police chief, the DIG HQ, the CM’s office, the DPO of Pakpattan and the RPO of Sahiwal.

Published in Daily Times, September 7^th 2018.