After six attacks, Mauripur SHO lives to tell the tale

Inspector Tanoli is being threatened by the gang mafia, political activists and even militants.

KARACHI:

For a man who has survived six personal attacks on his life, Mauripur SHO Shafiq Tanoli is a man still determined to fight crime.

He is enemies with the most dangerous men in the city. He is wanted by intimidating political activists, notorious gang war mafia and even ruthless militants.

“My life is in God’s hands and not in the hands of the criminals,” said the 45-year-old cop. SHO Tanoli heads one of the most dangerous stations in the city - the beige-coloured Mauripur police station situated next to shops selling soft drinks and beach balls.

Only a week ago, Tanoli survived a bomb attack near Hawkes’ Bay Road. “I was unhurt but a constable was injured,” he told The Express Tribune from his small room at the station. For the time being, Tanoli has let go off his police uniform. He comes on duty wearing a white crisp shalwar kameez. “Wearing the wardi [uniform] these days is like inviting criminals to you. I dress up like an ordinary person and travel with three men wearing the same clothes so that I don’t stand out.”

The number of attacks against policemen has gone up in recent months. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan states that in 2012, around 133 police men were killed on duty as compared to 74 officers in 2011.

And in some instances, such as Tanoli’s, family members were also forced to bear the brunt. Tanoli’s younger brother, Naveed, was killed the same day when Tanoli, the then SHO of Supermarket Police Station, arrested the murderers of Geo News reporter Wali Khan Babar.

“After we had held a press conference announcing the capture of Wali’s murderers, I received a phone call saying, ‘You have caught our men. Now we will send you a gift’.”

Two hours later, his 18-year-old brother was shot dead in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.



“That was the most difficult time of my life. I had no idea that they would go that far. But I resumed my duty four days after the killing. I wanted to show the criminals that I would not bow down.”

The man, who is determined to fight violence, joined the police force in 1989 when he was in his early twenties. He was also active during the army operation in the 1990s - a time when officers were scared to mention they were from the police force.

Tanoli has also worked for the CID, and was involved in the arrest of Lyari’s Arshad Pappu, inviting the wrath of his followers. He has been attacked twice in Pak Colony, twice in Mauripur, once each in Liaquatabad and Sachal.

“In Sachal, we received a tip-off about a mafia, but when we reached there we realised that the informer had sided up with the criminals.” The officer was hit by two bullets in his stomach and was in bed for 15 days.

Since he has taken control of the Mauripur station in July last year, the police force has been regularly targeted by the militants who have settled down in the neighbourhood. Sometimes grenades are hurled at the officer’s vans, sometimes it lands outside their home. “No one wants to be posted here. We carry out operations against the militants, arrest them and retrieve weapons from them. In return, they target us.”

As a handful of police officers stood guard outside the station, Tanoli said that the station covers a massive area of 172 km. “We only have 74 officers posted for such a large area. We need more force and more weapons.”

As Tanoli gets up to conclude an operation against heavily armed men in Musharraf Colony, he gives a small smiles and says, “These days every time I leave home, I tell my wife to have a good look in case I don’t come back. The situation is getting worse.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2013.