Hafizabad district police officer (DPO) has been removed after a dispute over the use of a washroom in his office escalated all the way to Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz, sources told a private media outlet.
The altercation erupted when PML-N Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shahid Bhatti visited the Hafizabad DPO’s office alongside his son and some constituents. The visit was part of CM Maryam’s directive to ruling party parliamentarians to get local, police-related matters resolved in the presence of district police heads.
During the meeting, the MPA’s son stepped into the DPO’s office, apparently to use the washroom. When he came out, DPO Kamran Hamid asked why he had used his personal facility without permission. The son shot back that it was a public office, not the DPO’s personal washroom, a response that caught the officer off guard in front of visitors.
Words were exchanged, and the DPO reportedly told the MPA’s son to “get lost”. The MPA intervened, asked his son to leave and tried to calm the situation. But as the group left, some of those accompanying the MPA declared the DPO’s conduct as an insult to a key political figure of the area.
A PTI leader subsequently posted on social media under the title “get lost” along with a picture of a toilet commode, widening the row.
The MPA later brought the matter to PML-N senior politician Saira Afzal Tarar, who raised it with the CM. According to Dawn Newspaper, the ‘influential Tarar family began lobbying for the DPO’s transfer as the episode became the talk of the town, with PML-N workers running a social media campaign against Hamid’.
The MPA and his son then visited Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abdul Kareem to complain about the DPO’s conduct. Hamid, during the inquiry, said that he had objected to the use of his office because his personal belongings and official files were kept there. The IGP was reportedly unsatisfied with the explanation and conveyed his findings to the CM.
Hamid was subsequently transferred to the Punjab Safe Cities Authority – reportedly, a relatively low-profile posting.
Shortly after, a post attributed to a member of the Tarar family appeared on social media with the words “now you get lost” – an apparent dig at the outgoing officer.
The episode sparked a major debate online, with many questioning both the DPO’s conduct and whether members of the public had the right to use government officials’ washrooms. A group of senior police officers reportedly approached the IGP, requesting that Hamid be given a better posting in the interest of departmental dignity and the Police Service of Pakistan.
