Fallen in the line of duty: Remembering Mattani’s counterterrorism fighter

Kifayatullah was gunned down by militants in broad daylight in October 2009.

PESHAWAR:

Fallen in the line of duty, Kifayatullah was a known figure in counterterrorism efforts in the militant-infested area of Mattani.

A constable in the police’s Special Branch, Kifayatullah, a resident of Badhaber village, was familiar and accustomed to the suburban countryside, which is why he was assigned the region’s toughest and most dangerous area.

He was gunned down on October 29, 2009 in broad daylight in a busy market place during the Taliban’s target killing spree. Wisal Khan, Kifayatullah’s assassin, was an active member of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Darra Adam Khel, until he was killed during a police raid. Khan, a resident of Suleman Khel, headed his own Taliban outfit in and around his native village.

“The militant had practiced well before killing Kifayatullah and had a perfect plan in place. Khan used a TT pistol and his band of militants had scouted several safe houses in a nearby village,” said a former Mattani police official. Kifayatullah was a polite and popular man and witnesses to his assassination immediately informed the police, he added.

“After we were informed that Khan and his militant comrade had reached a house in Mariamzai village around two kilometres away where Kifayatullah was killed, we sent a police party to arrest them,” he recalled. “The two men were armed with pistols and hand grenades and did not expect the police to locate their safe house, which they had been using for a long time.”

In the ensuing gunfight following their failure to surrender, both militants were seriously injured. “Khan was killed after he detonated a hand grenade in his face while his partner Amjad was killed by police fire,” the official said.

While in some ways justice was done, Kifayutallah leaves behind a wife, six daughters and a son.

Rahatullah, Kifayatullah’s brother, told The Express Tribune that he joined the police in 1996 as a constable and was later transferred to the Special Branch.

“The police department has helped the family by giving the Rs1.5 million Shaheed (martyr) package and they are also additionally paid his monthly salary.

His son also gets Rs1,000 scholarship for school every month,” Rahatullah said. “But money cannot bring him back. He is one of many policemen killed in the war on terror.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2012.