LAHORE: The concerns of the Punjab Police personnel, already facing issues of bad food and missing facilities during deployment in Rawalpindi division to counter the PTI march, further deepened on Sunday on the ‘rumours’ that 25,000 of the total 40,000 would be moved from Attock (Punjab) to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after declaration of an emergency and imposition of the governor’s rule.
Disillusioned by fatigue, lack of sleep and poor living conditions, a Punjab Police officer said, the exhausted police personnel were viewing the expected movement from Attock to KP as a new challenge and a serious trouble for them amid reports of poor facilities.
During the last few weeks, there was a barrage of allegations surfacing against the Rawalpindi division police administration of supplying rotten and stale food to the deployed personnel while reports confirmed death of five policemen during the last two weeks in line of duty at Attock and Wah Cantt in connection with the PTI protest march. Two died of heart attacks, one drowned in a canal, two others died of medical complications while a constable was fighting for life after a snakebite in the jungle.
As per the emerging reports, the police personnel have been complaining about the foul-smelling food, bad catering, poor washroom facilities and risky living conditions during the deployment, particularly in district Attock.
IGP rejects reports, says no decision taken yet; 40,000 cops deployed to counter PTI march face lack of facilities, getting bad food; five lose life in line of duty
Some senior officers also came to the support of their force and held the Rawalpindi police authorities responsible for the mismanagement. A senior officer said the videos recorded by the police personnel regarding the stale food continued to appear on social media with every passing day while the local police administration dubbed them merely ‘a conspiracy by some individual employees’ instead of resolving the problems.
Some recordings showed insects or worms in food served to the force with personnel raising the issue. Most complaints were related to the foul-smelling food, poor catering and washroom facilities.
Quoting some internal reports, the officer said that the Rawalpindi police top brass exchanged arguments with some senior officers of Punjab Police who highlighted the issue. The senior officers had arrived from other regions of the province to command their respective police force in Attock and Wah Cantt.
About the deployment in KP, Punjab Inspector General of Police Abdul Kareem clarified that no final decision had been taken or any directive was issued for the relocation of the police force from Punjab to KP.
“Although no final decision has been made yet to send the force to KP, if it happens, we will make it public officially,” he told Dawn.
Regarding bad quality of food, he said steps to provide quality food to the force at Attock and Wah Cantt were being taken on a priority basis. He rejected the allegations of supply of adulterated food ‘on a large scale,’ terming the reports incorrect.
“When complaints were inquired into, one of the police employees was caught mixing water in the food deliberately,” said Mr Kareem. Even then, he added, the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) had been tasked with checking the food quality and it had fielded teams to ensure provision of hygienic food and drinking water.
The IGP confirmed the deaths of five personnel, saying, “Five police employees have lost their lives during the last two-week security deployment at Attock and Wah Cantt”. He identified them as constables Zulfiqar Ahmed, Zain Ali, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Shahzad and Usman Idrees.
“Two of them were martyred due to heart attack while one of them – Zain Ali - accidentally drowned after slipping into Ghazi Canal. The two other police personnel died in the line of duty due to severe medical complications,” the IG says.
He rejected the reports about the death of a police employee by a snakebite, saying he was under treatment.
Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2026