Missing KP SP found dead in Afghanistan?

PESHAWAR: A superintendent of police (SP) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was shot dead by the militants across the border in Afghanistan, reports claimed on Tuesday.

No senior government or police official, however, confirmed the news of Mohammad Tahir Khan Dawar’s death till late Tuesday. A team of the Peshawar Police headed by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Javed Iqbal was at the Torkham border late Tuesday night to receive the body of the slain SP Tahir Dawar from Afghanistan. However, they didn’t receive the body and had to return to Peshawar.

“We cannot confirm reports about our missing SP Tahir Dawar. The team we had dispatched to Torkham border returned around 11 pm without receiving the body,” Waqar Ahmad, the director public relations of the KP Police told The News. He added they are still verifying the reports circulating about his death on the mainstream and social media.

The pictures of the body, claimed to be of Tahir Dawar, with a handwritten note in Pashto from “Wilayat Khorasan (province of Khorasan) were in circulation on social media since Tuesday afternoon. The note stated the SP was killed to convey a message to people like him as he was involved in the arrest and murder of a number of militants.

SP Rural Peshawar Tahir Dawar went missing from the federal capital where he had gone on a short leave on October 26. None of the guards of the SP were accompanying him when he left for Islamabad.

Officials said he had dinner at his home in the federal capital and then went out alone at around 7pm. His cell phone was found switched off at around 8pm. There was no word about him since then.

As family and friends had been demanding his safe recovery for the last many days, nothing official was heard from any of the senior level official of the KP government or the force.

The family had set a deadline of five days while speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club a few days back. The family members and elders of his Dawar tribe spoke to the media along with two of Tahir Dawar’s young daughters. They were carrying pictures of their father in their hands and demanding his early return home.

Tahir Dawar’s colleagues and tribesmen from his tribe were angry with the government and the police for failing to make any progress in the recovery of their officer despite lapse of over two weeks. The performance of the police and the government, both federal and provincial, has been criticized for failing to recover its own officer.

“The murder of Tahir Dawar is a question mark on the performance of the federal and provincial governments and the police force. This speaks volumes about the non-seriousness of the government and the police,” said ANP’s provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak in a statement after circulation of social media reports of his murder. He asked as to how the government and police will provide security to a common man if it cannot protect its own officer.

The missing SP belonged to North Waziristan and was promoted as acting SP a couple of months ago. He survived a number of attempts on his life, including two suicide attacks in Bannu in the past.

Known as a bold and vocal officer, Tahir Dawar had served as DSP in different areas of Peshawar and also worked in the FIA. Only the Pakistan Provincial Police Services Officers Association, family members and tribesmen publicly expressed concern over mysterious disappearance of Tahir Dawar. Nothing was heard from the KP Police and the KP and federal governments during the over two week period when he went missing.

Meanwhile, the speculations prevailed on Tuesday about the murder of Superintendent of Police (SP) Tahir Dawar in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan but the federal government and police authorities did not confirm it.

SP Dawar went missing from Islamabad on October 26 and Ramana police station registered report in this regard. The speculation over the fate of the missing officer mounted on Tuesday when pictures of a dead body found in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, purportedly that of Dawar, started circulating on social media platforms.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi declined to comment over the veracity of the social media reports, saying it was a sensitive matter. "It is a matter of national security and someone's life, and cannot be discussed on an open forum," Afridi said.

He said the government was seriously pursuing the cases of individuals whose loved ones have been missing. Praying that such an incident might not have taken place, the minister said a fifth generation and cyber war had been imposed on Pakistan. "Photo-shopped images and fake news are being spread nowadays," he added.

Islamabad IGP Aamir Zulfiqar when contacted, didn’t confirm the report saying that nothing could be said regarding killing of the SP. However, he suggested constitution of a joint investigation team to investigate the issue.

Meanwhile, Inspector General (IG) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Salahuddin Mehsud said they were in touch with the Afghan government through departments concerned. He also did not confirm the veracity of these reports.