Rao Sardar Ali Khan ( ur, ; born 21 February 1965) is a Pakistani civil servant and police officer who served as

inspector-general of police An Inspector General of Police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most se ...

(IGP) of the Punjab Police. He served from 8 September 2021 to 22 July 2022. He is currently serving as IG of Railway Police of Pakistan.

Early life and education

Rao Sardar Ali Khan was born on 21 February 1965, in

Lodhran Lodhran ( ur, ), is a city and the capital of Lodhran District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 81st largest city. It is located on the northern side of River Sutlej. Lodhran is famous for its cotton crop and mangoes. Admi ...

, Pakistan. His family migrated from

Julana In Luritja mythology, Julana is a lecherous spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand, leaping out, and raping them. He was alive, and wandered the Earth with his father, Njirana, during the Dreamtime The Dreaming, also refe ...

Jind District Jind district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Jind town is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of Hisar Division and was created in 1966. During the Sikh Empire, Jind lies in the heart of ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

, in 1947. Prior to joining the civil service, he graduated with an MBBS from the

King Edward Medical College King Edward Medical University (KEMU) () is a public medical university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1860, the university is named after King Edward VII. Established by the British Raj, named as Lahore Medical School. In 1868 ...

in Lahore.

Career

Rao Sardar is a graduate of the 18th

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

batch of the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. He was commissioned in the

Police Service of Pakistan Law enforcement in Pakistan ( ur, ) is one of the three main components of the criminal justice system of Pakistan, alongside the judiciary and the prisons. The country has a mix of federal, provincial and territorial police forces with both gen ...

in 1990 at the age of 25, as an

assistant superintendent Assistant superintendent, or assistant superintendent of police (ASP), is a rank that was used by police forces in the British Empire and is still used in many police forces in the Commonwealth. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held ...

of police (ASP). As ASP, he held postings in Quetta and Bannu, before discharging duties as a

sub-divisional police officer A Circle Officer (CO) or Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) is a police officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) or assistant commissioner of police (ACP) heading an independent police sub-division in the various states ...

(SDPO) in Quaidabad, Quetta, Samhari, Jafarabad, and Ferozewala. He was promoted to the rank of

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

(SP), following which he served in various districts of the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

including Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Rahim Yar Khan, Chakwal, and Mianwali. Later, he was appointed as the additional inspector-general (AIG) for Development and for Logistics, before being transferred to the

Establishment Division The Establishment Division is the human resource arm of the Government of Pakistan. It deals with all matters related to the country's civil service and is regarded as one of the most sensitive and important divisions of the federal government. ...

in Islamabad. Rao Sardar was then promoted to the rank of deputy inspector-general (DIG), following which he held the posts of DIG for Operations in Lahore, City Police Officer (CPO) in Faisalabad, and Regional Police Officer (RPO) in Sargodha and Bahawalpur. He also worked in the

Intelligence Bureau Intelligence Bureau may refer to: * Intelligence Bureau (India) * Intelligence Bureau (Pakistan) * Intelligence agency See also *Intelligence Bureau for the East, a World War I German organisation *Intelligence agency *National Intelligence Servic ...

for five years, during which he headed its Punjab branch, and served on a United Nations mission in an official capacity for eight months as well as in Australia for two years. In April 2020, Rao Sardar was given charge of leading the

Punjab Safe Cities Authority The Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) ( ur, or PSCA) established under the Punjab Safe Cities Ordinance 2015, is an autonomous Government body that aims to improve public safety and security in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Backgrou ...

as its Managing Director.

Inspector-general

In September 2021, it was announced that Rao Sardar had been selected to head the Punjab Police force, after his name was approved by prime minister

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

and the federal

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

for the slot of

. It was noted that he was the seventh police chief to be appointed in Punjab within three years during the tenure of the incumbent

PTI PTI may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Pardon the Interruption'', an American television sports show * PTI, a musical group on the WTII Records label Organizations * Pacific Torah Institute, a yeshiva high school in Vancouver, British Columb ...

-led

Usman Buzdar Sardar Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar ( ur, ; born 1 May 1969) is a Pakistani politician and previously served as Chief Minister of The Punjab from 20 August 2018 to 30 April 2022. He has been a member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab since Aug ...

ministry, which came into power in 2018. He replaced the outgoing IGP, Inam Ghani, who was transferred as the inspector-general for

Pakistan Railways Police Railroad police or railway police are people responsible for the protection of railroad (or railway) properties, facilities, revenue, equipment (train cars and locomotives), and personnel, as well as carried passengers and cargo. Railroad police ...

. Sardar's name had reportedly remained in contention for the post of IGP earlier in September 2020 as well, when Ghani was nominated. At the time of his appointment, Sardar was a senior Grade 21 officer. He was shortlisted for the position amongst three candidates. According to sources in the police, he enjoyed a "highly professional, competent, and honest" reputation and was considered by his peers as someone capable of turning around the police department and tackling crime rates in the Punjab. However, they maintained that his success depended upon how much of a "free hand" he would be allowed by the Chief Minister to run his team, and whether there would be any political interference from the provincial government. Rao Sardar took office as the 53rd inspector-general of Punjab Police on 8 September 2021. On the day of his appointment, he met Chief Minister Buzdar and held a press briefing with the media outlining his priorities as police chief. He shared his views on stemming corruption within the police department, taking action against fake

FIRs Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...

, enforcing crackdowns against land mafia, tackling crimes against women, children and minorities, and transforming the police from a "force-oriented to service-oriented" department. In May 2022, Sardar was promoted to

Grade 22 Grade 22 (also referred to as BPS-Apex) is the highest attainable rank for a Civil Servant in Pakistan. Grade 22 is equal to a 4-star rank of the Pakistan Armed Forces. With over five hundred thousand civil servants and bureaucrats in Pakistan, on ...

following a meeting of the High Powered Selection Board (HPSB). In July 2022, he was transferred to Railway Police as Inspector General of Railway Police.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Rao Sardar Ali 1965 births Living people King Edward Medical University alumni Pakistani civil servants Pakistani expatriates in Australia Pakistani police chiefs People from Lodhran District Inspector Generals of the Punjab Police (Pakistan)