KP lost maximum senior cops in terror attacks

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has not only sacrificed the most number of policemen in terror attacks during the last almost 10 years but has also lost more senior police officers than any other province.

Sajid Khan Mohmand, district police officer (DPO) of Qilla Abdullah in Balochistan, is the latest addition to the list of senior cops from KP who died in the line of duty. He fell victim to a bomb attack on his car in Chaman, Balochistan on Monday.

After remaining the prime target of violence in the region for the last several years, the police force of the province played an important role in going after the attackers. Over 1200 policemen sacrificed their lives while fighting against terrorists and criminals.

Many of them fell prey to the suicide bombings, ambushes, bomb attacks and target killings. Those who sacrificed their lives while their boots on included policemen from constables up to the rank of additional inspector general.

The first senior officer martyred in KP was Abid Ali, the then deputy inspector general of police Bannu Region, while on way to Peshawar in November 2006. He along with driver was shot dead by armed men on Kohat Road near Matani. He hailed from Punjab.

In January 2007, the then capital city police officer Peshawar and one of the most revered cop, Malik Mohammad Saad, was targeted by a suicide bomber when he along with a number of other senior officials was inspecting security of the route of a Muharram procession in Dhakki Dalgaran, near Qissa Khwani.

A deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Khan Raziq and many others were also martyred in the attack.The death of Malik Saad had shocked everyone in Peshawar and rest of the country. This was just the beginning of an unending series of attacks on security personnel and civilians all over Pakistan.

The senior most among the policemen martyred in attacks by the terrorists was Safwat Ghayur, an Additional IGP who was commanding Frontier Constabulary. He was targeted by a suicide bomber soon after he left his office in the FC headquarters in Peshawar Saddar in August 2010.

The KP Police observe the day of his death as Martyrs Day every year. Iqbal Marwat, a young DPO of Bannu, was another senior police officer who died in a suicide bombing in February 2010. Besides, the DPO of Lower Dir, Khursheed Khan, along with ex-district nazim Alamzeb lost life during an encounter with terrorism in March 2009.

Peshawar lost three SPs, Kalam Khan, Khursheed Khan and Hilal Haider, during the year 2012. Kalam Khan and Hilal Haider were targeted separately by suicide bombers while Khursheed Khan was killed during an encounter with militants in Matani.

The list of the DSPs, inspectors and other junior police who have sacrificed their lives during the duty is so long. Many senior and junior policemen also sustained injuries in attacks on their lives some of whom are still paralyzed and need regular treatment.

A senior police officer, Hilal Khan, along with two senior army officers lost lives in an ambush in Chilas town of Gilgit-Baltistan in 2013. He, too, was originally from KP and was posted as SSP of Diamer in Gilgit-Baltistan when he was killed.

Sajid Khan Mohmand posted as DPO Qilla Abdullah, martyred in a blast in Chaman on Monday was also from KP. Belonging to the Mohmand tribe and born in Shabqadar town of the Charsadda district, Sajid Mohmand joined the police force as deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in 1988. He has served against important positions all over the province. Sajid remained DPO in Nowshera, Karak, Swat, Shangla and Upper Dir and also served as senior superintendent of police (SSP) Security and Investigation. He was twice selected for the UN Peace Mission in Kosovo. He along with many of his batch-mates was transferred to Balochistan in recent months.