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Thursday March 28, 2024

1,430 policemen martyred in KP since the year 2000

By Javed Aziz Khan
July 20, 2019

PESHAWAR: As many as 285 policemen had lost lives in different incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 1970 till 1999 but the number increased manifold from 2000 to 2019 when 1430 police officers and cops were martyred in suicide attacks, bomb blasts, target killings and ambushes.

As per the official record, 1715 policemen have lost lives in KP in the last almost five decades. The years from 2007 till 2014 proved to be the worst when hundreds of senior and junior cops were attacked in the province, particularly Peshawar. Over 1300 policemen were martyred during the last 11 years.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have started preparations to pay tribute to the martyrs of the force on August 4, the day that is observed as Martyrs Day for the last many years. A number of events are held in all the districts to pay homage to the fallen heroes and their families.

Those who were martyred during the last almost 12 years included two additional inspectors general of police, two deputy inspectors general of police, six superintendents of police and 19 acting SPs or DSPs and a large number of junior officers.

The highest share is that of constables as over 950 were martyred during terrorist attacks, suicide bombings, ambushes and target killings since 2006. They proved to be the frontline force against terrorists and criminals during the troubled years.

The incidents of attack on police and other force have recorded a decrease over the last almost five years. The figures are gradually dropping with the passage of each year with further improvement in law and order.

The worst year for police in KP was that of 2009 when 207 policemen, including one SP, 3 DSPs, four inspectors, 18 sub inspectors and 16 ASIs were martyred in different terrorist attacks in the province.

According to the record of the KP Police, 28 policemen were martyred in different attacks all over the province in 2006, 107 in 2007, 176 in 2008, 207 in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 148 in 2011. The number of the fallen policemen came down to 94 in 2012 but increased again to 133 in 2013 and 108 in 2014. However, the situation has started improving since 2015. The number of the fallen policemen came down to 65 in 2105 and 71 in 2016.

The call-sign of the capital city police officer, a code word that is used for communication with the force on wireless phone, is Safwat. Safwat Ghayur was the senior most officers of the KP Police who sacrificed his life in a suicide attack on his car on August 4, 2010. His death anniversary is observed every year as Martyrs Day to pay tributes to all the fallen heroes of the force.

The office where the city police chief sits is named after another martyr. The Peshawar Police Lines were named after Malik Mohammad Saad, a former CCPO Peshawar who was martyred along with many other policemen and civilians in a suicide attack in January 2007.

The first senior officer martyred in KP was Abid Ali, the then DIG Bannu Region, while on way to Peshawar in December 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 CCPO Peshawar and one of the most revered cop, Malik Mohammad Saad, was targeted by a suicide bomber when he along with other senior officials was inspecting security of the route of a Muharram procession in Dhakki Dalgaraan, 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. Safwat Ghayur, an Additional IGP who was commanding Frontier Constabulary, was targeted by a suicide bomber soon after he left his office in the FC headquarters in Peshawar Saddar on August 4, 2010.

Another Ad IG Mohammad Ashraf Noor was targeted by a suicide bomber in Hayatabad when he was on his way to office in November 2017.

Among the SPs, Iqbal Marwat was the youngest who died in a suicide bombing in February 2010. Another DPO, Khurshid Khan of Lower Dir, 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.

A senior police officer from KP, Hilal Khan, along with two senior army officers lost lives in an ambush in Chilas town of Gilgit-Baltistan in 2013 while ASP Salman Ayaz embraced martyrdom in Rawalpindi in 2007.

Sajid Khan Mohmand posted as DPO Qilla Abdullah, martyred in a blast in Chaman few years back 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 in 1988.