#NeverForget: A lifetime of sorrow

Slain DSP Amanullah’s son recalls the death of his father

PESHAWAR: June 23, 2013 was just another day at DSP Traffic Amanullah’s household. “He woke up early and offered prayers. He tried to wake me up, but I wanted to sleep a little longer. Little did I know that was the last time I will hear from him,” said Muhammad Adil Aman, one of the slain police official’s nine children.

Soon after the DSP left for work, someone knocked on the door. The family was informed that Amanullah had been gunned down. “It was impossible to believe. I tried my father’s and his gunman’s phones multiple times but no one would pick up,” said Adil. His father was no more.

Adil is now a FSc 2nd year student and wishes to join Pakistan Air Force as a pilot and fulfill his father’s dream. He states his father was a self-made man who joined the police force as a constable and worked his way through the ranks diligently to reach the DSP position.

He said even though the traffic police was not a threat to the militants, his father was targeted because he belonged to the police family. “The department has helped us a lot after his death. We were given funds under a Shaheed package and I receive a monthly stipend for my studies.” However, Adil knows nothing can bring his slain father back. “Whenever I am alone or confronting a problem, I miss him terribly,” he added.

Brother in arm

The current DSP Traffic Asghar Marwat was very fond of his colleague. “I worked with him for two years and can safely say that he had an excellent work record. He did not come from a well-to-do family yet he never used his uniform for any illegal activity,” he told The Express Tribune. Recalling events from June 23, 2013, Marwat said Amanullah’s driver’s mother had passed away on the day. He had excused the driver and instead asked his gunman to take the driving seat. “Neither of them returned.”

He mentioned how the late DSP was always polite, friendly and kept good ties with the locals. This was the very reason why he never faced any resistance during the encroachment campaigns that he initiated.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2015.