PESHAWAR:
Becoming the third SP to fall victim to militancy, SP Hilal Haider was killed in a blast on Wednesday that killed six people.
SP Haider served the police for over 37 years. Originally from Kocha Risaldar, he joined the police service in 1975 as an assistant sub-inspector. Haider was then promoted to sub-inspector in 1991, inspector in 1997 and finally in August 2010 to a DSP. On September 10, 2011, he was appointed as the acting SP Investigation.
During his time in the police, he served in many different services including the traffic police, the Kohat SDPO, Nowshera Headquarters DSP, Nowshera Special Branch DSP and in the Frontier Reserve Police.
The year 2012 has witnessed the killing of three police SPs. Two were killed in suicide attacks while the third was killed in an exchange of gunfire with militants.
The first SP who lost his life was Rural SP Kalam Khan. Khan was killed on Ring Road near Pishtakhara on March 15 this year when a suicide bomber targeted his vehicle.
He was seen by many as on the forefront of fighting militancy and had taken many practical steps to curb insurgency spreading from Khyber Agency into the settled districts. The SP had created a chain of police posts along Peshawar’s border with the tribal belt.
The two checkpoints he established in Sheikhan and Nargas Korana, which were jointly manned by police and army personnel, normalised things in the area for the first time in five years.
After Khan’s death, SP Shafullah had taken charge. Shafullah was later replaced by SP Khurshid Khan. Khurshid was killed on October 15 this year in action in the suburban area of Mattani in an exchange of fire with militants.
Militants had attacked the Ghaziabad check post of Mattani police and were well equipped and in large numbers. After the attack, the check post repeatedly called for help and SP Khurshid answered, arriving with a police contingent.
He evacuated the injured and was killed by a machine gun fire along with five others police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) men.
On Wednesday, SP Hilal Haider became the third SP killed after a suicide attack in the historic Qissa Khawani bazaar.
The funeral prayers for Haider, his gunman Murad Ali and driver Ilayas Khan, who were also killed in the attack, were offered in Police Lines. The funeral was attended by senior minister Bashir Bilour and provincial assembly speaker Karamat Chagharmatti among others. Khan joined the police in 2001, while Ali had joined the force as a constable in 1994.
All three were laid to rest in their ancestral towns.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2012.
COMMENTS (8)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Where is the railway minister, Mr. Bilour? Did he condemn the attack? Or just too happy with the pardon from Taliban, shame shame!
Brave Police Officers are making a difference. That is why they are on the hit list of extremists. Only Police and Judiciary can make a real difference in war against religious intolerance. They must get serious money in congruent with their job.
Khalid
RIP brave son of the land.
May Allah keep his soul in eternal peace. It is high time that we take the militant threat seriously and take action against them. As a gesture of solidarity with pakhtuns, it would be a good idea to post SPs and ASPs from punjab and Sindh in kp as constant deaths of officers from kp is demoralising, and raises serious questions about our taliban policy, the brunt of which is mainly being born by pakhtuns.
May their souls rest in peace
May Allah bless them best place in heaven.
maybe security lapse, eh?
My deep condolences to the families and friends of these martyred protectors' of innocent citizens who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Long-live the Javans who protect the Pak innocents from religious radicals.