Rest in peace: Dilawar Khan of Adezai peace militia laid to rest

Despite fall out with govt, he was considered a powerful anti-militant figure.

PESHAWAR:

A staunch opponent of the Taliban, founding member and ex-commander of the Adezai Peace Militia, Dilawar Khan, 46, was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Adezai on Friday.

Dilawar was admitted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) six days ago with a respiratory illness and was in the intensive care unit (ICU) since.

Farman Khan told The Express Tribune his brother breathed his last in the hospital Thursday night. “He is no more. We have lost him,” he said.

A large number of police officials and Adezai Peace Militia volunteers were deployed in the area as militants have targeted funeral prayers in the past.

Dilawar Khan rose to fame after forming an armed front against the local Taliban of Adezai in 2008. He survived many attempts on his life, including a remote-controlled bomb blast, a suicide attack where he shot the suicide bomber and several heavy assaults on his house.

“He was a potent anti-Taliban figure and made all efforts to fight them,” said Haji Waqif Khan, his friend and a commander of the peace militia.

Although Dilawar had stopped collaborating with the police as he found them uncooperative on many fronts, his struggle against militants did not end, added Waqif Khan.

Dilawar was also the vice-president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Peshawar chapter. He is survived by a widow and six children.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2013.