Abdalians Alumni Home

Friday, 26 January 2007 17:40

Ifthikhar Rashid, a 2nd Entry student in Cadet College, was born in 1943 in Jalandhar (India). After attending various schools like, Grammar School Quetta, Burn Hall School Abbottabad, Jesus & Mary Convent School Sialkot, he joined Cadet College Hasanabdal in 1955.

He is a law graduate and joined the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) as an officer through the CSS examination in 1967. He held all important positions in the department and worked in all disciplines of policing. Starting as ASP Khanewal he rose to the rank of Superintendant of Police (SP) in 1971 and was SP Traffic in Karachi, SSP Karachi, SSP Hyderabad, AIG SInd and AIG Traffic Punjab, from whre he was promoted Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in 1976 and posted as Commandant Sihala Police Academy.

Mr. Iftikhar Rashid has the unique distinction of training nearly 100 PSP officers, including thirty five majors and ten colonels inducted into the police force. Out of all theofficers presently in the rank of Inspector General's, the majority are trainees of Iftikhar Rashid, including IG Punjab, IG NWFP and IG Baluchistan. In 1990, Mr. Rashid was specially selected and posted as Inspector General of Police, federal Capital Territory, Islamabad.

In 1995 he became IG Enforcement, Highways Police for the whole of Pakistan. In this position, he gained the singular distinction of raising the Motorway and Highway Police, which according to Transparency International is the only corruption-free department in the governement. As IG Motorways he was elevated to the highest rank in the bureaucracy and for his meritorious services was posted as Federal Secretary, Ministry of Communications in 2001 where he remained till 2005.

His main contribution as a public servant include raising a competent, clean, efficient and honest traffic police for motorways and highways. Resultantly, he was made the life time Patron-in-Chief of this force. As an acknowledgement of his abilities he was selected by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to raise a similar traffic police force the Islamabad Capital Territory in 2005.

Mr. Iftikhar Rashid is the only police officer to be ever posted as a Federal Secretary, where he had one the longest and most dynamic tenures, during which many roads, shipping, postal and policing projects were launched, some of which are:

• Commencement and completion of Gwadar Port
• Upgradation and modernization of Karachi Port
• Major road projects like M1 (Islamabad-Peshawar motorway), Coastal Highway, dualization of GT Road, Kohat Tunnel, Torkham-Jalalabad Road
• First night navigation facility at Port Qasim
• Modernization of the Postal Service
• Raising of Motorway and Highway Police

Keeping in view his vision, vast experience and overall competency, the Government assigned him a very challenging job as Chief of the recently established Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), which he joined in February 2005. Under him, PEMRA has witnessed unprecedented improvement in its working and regulatory functions, besides ushering in a media revolution in the private sector.

Well done Mr. Iftikhar Rashid... you make Abdalian's proud!