Martyred inspector laid to rest

Colleague says he saw the assassination, can identify attackers

RAWALPINDI:

Racecourse Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Mian Imran Abbas, who was martyred in a target killing incident on Sunday, was laid to rest with full state honours at Army Graveyard on Monday.

Funeral prayers of the martyred were offered at Rawalpindi Police Lines Parade Ground.

A large number of military and police officers and citizens, including Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, Cantonment Station Commander Brigadier Ijaz Qamar Kayani, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Imran Ahmar, City Police Officer (CPO) Muhammad Ahsan Younas attended the funeral prayers. They also presented salutes to the officer and laid wreaths on his body.

The body of the martyred was placed in front of the Martyrs' Memorial where a floral wreath on behalf of the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was also laid.

Varsity student killed in ‘encounter’

SHO’s two young sons, brother Mian Rehan Abbas, close relatives, friends, and a large number of citizens also attended the funeral prayers. Smartly turned-out police presented salute to the martyred.

Talking to media before the funeral prayers, the deceased’s brother said that they were all young when their father was martyred and now their brother had also been martyred. Imran’s father Mian Mohammad Abbas embraced martyrdom in an encounter with a gang of robbers in July 1990 when he was posted at the RA Bazaar police station.

The martyred inspector has left behind a widow, two sons, and a daughter.

FIR lodged

Cantt SHO Aizaz Azeem filed the murder case of Inspector Imran as plaintiff. The first information report (FIR) includes sections of terrorism.

The complainant revealed that he and two other policemen were eyewitnesses of the incident. The plaintiff informed that before the incident, he contacted the martyred inspector on his mobile at 4:30pm.

“Imran told me that he was having lunch with his family at a local hotel,” he said. At around 5pm, SHO Imran left for home after with his wife and children and drove home, Azeem said adding that he was a few cars behind Imran’s vehicle.

When the vehicle reached near Rawalpindi Gymkhana, suddenly a 125cc motorcycle with two suspects with no number plate came close to the victim's vehicle and one of them fired a single gunshot. The car went out of control and collided with the footpath.

Azeem said he along with other officers tried to chase and catch the motorcyclists but the assailants took advantage of the rush and managed to ride away towards Kacheri Chowk.

When SHO Azeem returned, he found Imran lying in the driver's seat with a wound in his neck. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and died. The plaintiff said that he could identify the attackers.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2021.