Police officials inspect the site where their fellow constable was gunned down while on duty guarding the Church in Pishtakhara. PHOTO: IQBAL HAIDER/EXPRESS
Two policemen were gunned down by unidentified assailants in separate incidents in the province on Tuesday.
Constable Ataullah was killed outside a church in Umidabad in the limits of Pishtakhara police station in Peshawar. He was on duty outside the Assembly of God church in Swati Gate when unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at him, killing him on the spot.
“He (Ataullah) was part of the security detail provided to the church by the police and was standing outside the church’s premises while his other colleague was inside at the time of the attack,” a local police official told The Express Tribune.
The constable was shot in the skull from behind, following which the gunmen escaped. They also managed to steal Ataullah’s AK-47 rifle after shooting him. Police authorities rushed to the spot and launched a search operation in the area, but the assailants had already fled the vicinity.
Ataullah was a resident of Landi Arbab village and the father of two-year-old Abuzar and five-year-old Manahal. His last rites were offered at Malik Saad Shaheed Lines and the body was later sent to his ancestral village for burial.
Earlier this year in July, police constable Shahzad Gul was shot dead outside the same church. The attack was executed in similar fashion and the culprits also managed to steal Gul’s rifle after killing him.
Elsewhere, a head constable of the police special branch, Rahat Gul, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman at main Shabqadar Bazaar. The assailant managed to escape, while Gul’s body was shifted to Shabqadar Hospital, said police official Nasir Khan.
Nasir added the hospital was out of power and did not even have cotton, due to which doctors were not able to carry out a proper postmortem.
The police are searching for the culprits, but no arrests have been made as yet. Gul is not the first special branch official targeted in Shabqadar. In-charge Zahoor Khan was also shot and critically injured in the same area, but has recovered since then.
Home secretary takes notice
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Home Secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah took notice of Constable Ataullah’s killing outside the Assembly of God church in Swati Phatak and has ordered a thorough investigation.
A Home and Tribal Affairs department handout issued on Tuesday stated Shah ordered investigation police officers to form a special team and track down those responsible. It further stated the investigation report should be submitted within a week.
He also directed all the divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, regional police officers and district police officers across the province to ensure security at all places of worship and to increase police patrolling.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2013.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
If his name was Parvez Masih instead of Abdullah, our media & international media would have been crying that a Christian has been killed outside the church, Christians are not safe in Pakistan etc etc. We are becoming more & more sensitive to rights of minorities and forget the majority. Respect to this brave security guard, who lost his life while protecting people of other religion.
We should not forget these policemen. Looks like was as a nation we are taking deaths of our policemen and soldiers for granted and there is hardly any demonstration of sympathy or help. They are our frontline and taking the brunt of the attacks. May Allah bless them.
you don't talk to snakes,but crush their heads.They will bite you otherwise.