Funeral prayers for Shahid Hayat offered

The funeral prayers for former Karachi additional IG Shahid Hayat Khan were offered on Wednesday at the Garden headquarters of the Sindh police.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Information Minister Saeed Ghani, Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Syed Kaleem Imam and Karachi Additional IG Ghulam Nabi Memon attended the prayers along with representatives of the Pakistan Army, Navy, Federal Investigation Agency, Intelligence Bureau and business.

Fifty-four-year-old Hayat breathed his last at a private hospital on Tuesday after a prolonged battle with cancer. After the funeral prayers, the body was shifted to his hometown Dera Ismail Khan for burial. He is survived by his widow and two daughters.

A brave officer

The late officer was known for his courage throughout his career. He served in the Sindh police, Federal Investigation Agency and Intelligence Bureau (IB). At the time of his death, he was serving in the IB for a second time.

He was diagnosed with cancer when he had gone abroad for an official training. Hayat started his career of civil services in 1988 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as a civil judge. In 1989, he passed the CSS (Central Superior Services) examination and was posted as an assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in Lahore in 1992.

In 1993, the late officer went abroad for a United Nations mission. He returned to Pakistan in 1995 and was transferred to Karachi at the time when the city was witnessing severe lawlessness. He was posted at one of the most disturbed sub-divisions of Pak Colony as the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) and later posted as the Orangi Town SDPO. Afterwards, he served as the Saddar SDPO in 1996.

During an operation against criminals at that time, he was wounded after a bullet had hit him in the face. He remained under treatment for a month.

He was posted as the Karachi traffic ADIG in 1999 and a year later, he was posted at the Security Branch of the Sindh police with an additional charge of Karachi ADIG-II. In 2001, he was promoted to the rank of SP.

Hayat was posted as the Thatta SP in 2002. In the same year, he was transferred and posted as the investigation (Crime Against Property-II) SSP. In 2003, he was posted as the investigation-I ADIG for around a year, after which he was transferred from the Sindh police and his services were placed at the disposal of the interior ministry that posted him as the FIA deputy director and FIA Addl Director Immigration Jinnah International Airport in 2004.

During his tenure at the FIA, he also served as the head of its cybercrime wing till 2008 and was responsible for many developments in the wing.

Later in 2008, his services were again transferred to the Sindh government. Till 2010, he served at various positions including the South investigation SSP, AIG welfare and DIG establishment.

Hayat left Sindh to attend the 8th SMC National Management College Lahore till 2011, which is a course mandatory for further promotions. He was later promoted to grade 20 by the establishment division and later participated in a workshop, ‘Power for Change’, in Indonesia in 2012. Upon his return, he served as the East Range DIG, South DIG and Special Branch DIG until 2013.

After the general elections of 2013, Nawaz Sharif was elected as the prime minister and the federal government announced the Karachi operation to resolve the issue of extortion and target killings in the city.

On September 12, 2013, Hayat was appointed as the Karachi police chief with the command to carry out operation against criminals in the city. He served at the position till May 22, 2014.

During his one-year tenure as the Karachi police chief, he launched a crackdown against the criminal mafia and many of the notorious criminals of the city were arrested or killed, resulting in a notable decrease in various crimes, especially target killings.

He was posted at the CID after serving as the Karachi police chief. Later, he was transferred to the FIA and the Motorway Police.

He was then promoted to BPS-21 by the establishment division and was serving at the IB when he lost his battle against cancer.