Constable Muhammad Riaz: A ‘bhola bhala’ cop

He was a man who could never ever have been cunning because it was just not in his nature.

ISLAMABAD:

His colleagues will always remember him as their “innocent” friend, a man who could never ever have been cunning because it was just not in his nature.

Constable Muhammad Riaz, a policeman at the Margalla Police Station, died in the line of duty on Monday morning after attackers opened fire and committed two suicide bombings inside the Islamabad district courts in F-8.

Riaz, who was in his mid-40s, had gone to the courts on regular security duty, said Muhammad Anwar, a policeman at the Margalla Police Station.

“He was the nicest person I knew,” said Anwar, whose hometown is some 12 kilometres away from Gujranwala. “I dropped him off at his house in Gujranwala during our last trip home.” I was teasing him all the way about learning how to drive because he now had to serve arrest warrants as part of his job, he added.

Other officers at the police station remember Riaz as their innocent, “bhola bhala” comrade, who was gentle towards everyone.

Riaz had joined the police force in June 1990. His funeral prayers were offered at the Police Lines Headquarters in H-11. His body was shifted to Rahmanpura in Gujranwala district, where his family and his father, Muhammad Yaqub, live. Riaz is survived by his wife and two children.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2014.