Preserving Chaudhry Aslam’s legacy

The fearless and emotionless counterterrorism officer, the best Karachi had possessed, fell as his convoy was obliterated by terrorists. He had been on their hit-list for a while, but that did not mean anything to Anti-Extremism Cell Chief SP Muhammad Aslam Khan aka Chaudhry Aslam. Since 2006, he had survived four attempts on his life, both by militants and the city’s criminal syndicates. Indeed, his luck finally gave out on that fateful Thursday, when his attackers, who waited for about 50 minutes for his convoy to pass, as is being reported, triggered his death with a massive explosion. And surely, his loss is a substantial setback for the city in its counterterrorism efforts.

Aslam had made a name for himself through his numerous successes in dismantling terror networks in the city and hunting militants. He acted swiftly on actionable intelligence. Just like the terrorists, who blew up bombs and attacked at will, so did Aslam hunt them down whenever a tip came. He had developed so much bad blood with militants that they blew up his house and left an amazingly huge crater on his street; eight people, including a school teacher and her son, were also killed in that attack. Yet, he fiercely pledged that this would not deter his resolve. But just as with many of the city’s, and the country’s, top officers, who have perished in this war against terrorism, we have a duty to preserve Chaudhry Aslam’s legacy. In his 29 years of experience, he had mastered the art of dismantling terror networks and developed a vast intelligence web across the city, which helped provide him timely tip-offs, in addition to infiltrating the banned outfits that this country has been at war with.

As has been reported, Aslam was a ‘walking, talking encyclopaedia’ on militancy, who understood Karachi’s criminal and terror dynamics. Thus, the police force must document his management skills: how he ran intelligence rings, his targeting techniques, his approach to investigations and his network-infiltration tactics. The specialised methods that he used must be preserved, archived and taught at our training academies, where our police and intelligence officials are groomed before being deployed. We need to take a scientific and calculated approach to law enforcement to better our counterterrorism and intelligence collection efforts. Aslam’s ways could equally be applied in other theatres of war and his practices are applicable to our entire intelligence community.

Aslam was Karachi’s first line of defence. Apart from performing as the city toughest top cop, he was also known for his investigative sharpness. He had cracked open the Ayesha Manzil blast targeting an MQM procession on January 1, 2013 and his team managed to bust the Swat network of militants, who are accused of being behind the deadly bombing that killed four. In a recent conversation with the media, he had said that it was his duty to enforce the writ of the state come what may. “If the state shows it’s scared, then it loses the right to call itself the state. As long as I am alive in Karachi, I will never let that happen,” he had said.

He is no longer among us. But with this, our resolve should strengthen. His work should serve as inspiration for our police forces in the years ahead as this battle will rage on till this violent ideology persists.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2014.

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