Transitions: Senior retired policeman breathes his last

He remained imprisoned in Allahabad till 1973 when PM Zulfikar Bhutto succeeded in securing release of prisoners

PESHAWAR:

Haji Musharaf Shah, the grandfather of The Express Tribune staffer Iftikhar Firdous, passed away on Sunday morning after prolonged illness. Shah, a retired senior police officer, was 85 years old.

He was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Peshawar and the funeral was attended by a large number of serving and retired police officers, information directorate officials, lawyers, judges and journalists.

The late Shah hailed from Shergarh, Mardan and joined the police force in the early 1960s. He was serving as an inspector when unrest erupted in erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Shah was dispatched to East Pakistan where he was captured as a prisoner of war (PoW) after the fall of Dhaka in 1971.

He remained imprisoned in a camp in Allahabad till 1973 when former prime minister Zulfikar Bhutto succeeded in securing the release of all prisoners through the Simla Accord.

Upon his return to the country, Shah was promoted to the rank of deputy superintendent and later to the rank of superintendent. He served at several senior posts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police till he retired in the mid-90s.  In the light of his experience and expertise, Shah was made a member of the Police Reforms Committee following his retirement.

He is survived by five sons, Information Department Deputy Director Firdous Khan, health department official Dr Muhammad Nawaz Khan, FATA Additional Education Director Abbas Khan, Professor Owais Khan of Fazale Haq College Mardan and Muhammad Ilyas Khan, a civil court judge. Shah’s soyem will be held on Tuesday in Saeedabad, Pajaggi Road near Tablighi Markaz, Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2014.