In remembrance : The life and death of Arbab Rafiullah Jaan
When Arbab Rafiullah Jaan, a dedicated officer of the erstwhile Frontier Police Force, set out on the ill-fated mission of 1966, little did he know it would be his last. A young officer, he had been dispatched to solve a growing dispute between two heavily armed gangs in the city. His objective, to keep the civilians out of harm’s way. Although Jaan had been on graver assignments in his line of duty, he knew before setting a course that this would be a test of not brute force but tactfulness.
However, by the time the officer and his cavalry reached, the situation had already escalated far beyond resolution. Exchange of ceaseless gunfire between the two armed groups had rattled the neighbourhood into a state of frenzy.
Passersby scampered to take shelter and those who could not find refuge ducked where they stood while bullets flew overhead. It was neighbourhood-wide manslaughter waiting to happen had Jaan not immediately launched into the crossfire to take charge of the situation.
But although the officer had done his best to prevent civilian casualties, his own was not something which he could avoid. A wayward bullet had pierced through Jaan’s lower-abdomen during the shootout and the officer succumbed to his wounds, leaving behind a young wife and a child of not more than a few months old. Jaan was awarded a medal of bravery for his sacrifice, making him the first martyr of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police force.
When news of Inspector Jaan’s demise reached his hometown of Budhai, his mother’s grief soon turned to pride upon learning that her son had laid down his life in the line of duty and earned the title of a martyr. “I am lucky to be the mother of Arbab Rafiullah Jaan Shaheed, as a martyr’s death only makes him immortal. My son will always be remembered for his honour and bravery, and we, his family members are proud of Jaan’s sacrifice.”
According to his mother, Jaan wanted to be a police officer from a very young age. He was inspired by his uncle Arbab Ataullah Jan, who was the former deputy inspector general of K-P police. Upon Jaan’s martyrdom, his wife had decided that she wanted their son to carry forward his father’s legacy and he too was inducted into the police force at the age of 34. “I was very young when my father was martyred but I grew up listening to tales of his heroism and it had always been my dream to be able to follow in his footsteps. So when I finally joined the police force, I proudly donned his unformed which my mother had saved for me all this time and saluted his photograph before taking charge of my duties as the Assistant Sub-Inspector of the K-P police,” the martyr’s son Superintend Police Arbab Shafiullah told The Express Tribune. “I have fought terrorists in Swabi and been injured many times in the line of duty but, I would not think twice before sacrificing my life for those I have pledged to protect. That is how I hope to honour my father’s legacy and I am proud to call myself the son of a martyr,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 10th, 2020.