44

Honouring those who never die
There was a marvelous deed of devotion to duty and courage in early 1992. On February 19, DSP Zamurrad was on a watch duty near Wazirabad, on the intersection of the National Highway N5 (G.T. Road) and a small ca­nal road. He heard on wireless that a bank had been looted in Gujranwala and the dacoits were fleeing. Soon a vehicle ap­proached the intersection. Its oc­cupants, noticing the police party and apprehending checking, sud­denly started firing with Kalashnikovs. The DSP was hit on the head and went blind with the impact but he did pass on the information on the wireless network before going unconscious. His two gunmen engaged the attacking criminals and burst the tyres of their vehicle. The injured DSP was later rushed to the Guj­ranwala district hospital.

The battle of Ojla Kalan. The desperadoes abandoned their ve­hicle, went into a nearby dera (farm house) of village Ojla Kalan, held hostage the children and women there and took positions behind the walls of houses. The police of the Gujranwala district, already out on the chase, converged on the hideout. Malik Iqbal, SSP Gujranwala, and Khadim Husain Bhatti, his Additional SP, also rushed there. So did Masood Bangash, the SP of nearby Gujrat district. DIG Azhar Hasan Nadeem took over the command on the spot.
The criminals had the protection of the walls. On the other hand, the policemen were totally exposed as there was nothing on the flat land behind which they could take positions. Then there was the dis­turbing problem of the hostages, forcing the police to be extra careful in its maneuvers. In such a situation, if the police makes a hasty move, it takes a great risk. If it does not move, the criminals have the sway and may even slip away. The policemen had a very difficult choice.
An inspired body of men, they were ready despite very heavy odds to take any risk, even at the cost of their own lives. They were further encour­aged by the hundreds of men from nearby villages, who joined them, some of them with their own licensed weapons. Azhar Nadeem found it difficult to con­trol their enthusiasm.
The firing from the criminals kept the policemen pinned down in their positions. Despite being without any protection, the policemen not only clung to their precarious positions but also advanced, crawling on their bel­lies. They could also be indiscriminate in their attack but were concerned about the safety of the hostages.
The encounter was extremely bloody and fierce. In an eight-hour duel, the police finally overpowered the criminals and rescued all hostages, un­harmed. Two of the bandits were killed while the others fled, taking advan­tage of the darkness that had crept by that time. But the loss of police was co­lossal. Eight officers and men laid down their lives while 23 were se­ri­ously injured. While fighting shoulder to shoulder with the police, two of the villagers also got serious bullet injuries.

It was night by the time the mission was accomplished. I, with Rana Maqbool Ahmad, DIG Lahore, and Ch. Wajid Ali, MPA, rushed to Gujran­wala district hospital where the injured were being treated. Khushnood Lashari, Deputy Commissioner, Gujranwala, a noble soul, had taken charge of the arrange­ments there as the senior police officers were still at the scene of the en­coun­ter.
The people’s solidarity with the police was very moving. Thou­sands of them had gathered at the hospital, donating blood, supplying medicines and everything else needed in that emergency. It were the citi­zens who were making arrangements to take the more seriously injured policemen to the hospitals in Lahore. The hospital was filled with flowers and presents from the citizens. They were saluting and admir­ing the policemen for their brav­ery and commitment to duty. Azhar Hasan Nadeem and Malik Iqbal were re­ceived as heroes on their arri­val at the hospital. I could see the deep respect earned by them by their splendid deeds.
The warmth and enthusiasm of the citizens were overwhelming. The policemen had earned people’s love by sacrificing their own lives and blood. Once the rightful role of the policemen as law enforcers was restored, they became real guardians of society with determination and high morale. The two were no longer adversaries.
Carrying a great tradition. The solidarity and esprit de corps were marvelous. Inspector Farooq Khan and Sub Inspector Amanulla Khan were real brothers. When Farooq was hit by a bullet, Amanulla wanted to rush to him but was stopped. Instead, his colleagues moved ahead despite heavy firing and res­cued his injured brother. Six of them were seriously injured in the ef­fort. Farooq breathed his last in the hospital while Amanulla Khan continued to fight till victory was won. The last thing Farooq Khan wanted to know before his death was whether the hostages had been rescued.
Farooq was carrying a great tradition. His father and grandfather had served in the police and so did his other five brothers. His pious mother, no doubt agonized over her son’s death, was proud of him. While talking to Rais Qureshi, of Urdu daily Mashriq and a close friend of Farooq, she said, “I shall get a feeling of fulfillment if all my sons lay down their lives in the service of my country.” (She had six sons, all in police.) Then she went into sajda (prostration) before Allah Almighty in thanksgiving. When Rais Qure­shi narrated the incident, there were tears in many eyes, in­cluding those of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

There were many emotional scenes the next day at the funeral prayers of the great martyrs in the Gujranwala Police Lines. Thou­sands had gathered to pay their homage. Ghulam Haider Wyne, Chief Minister, Pervez Masud, Chief Secretary, Ch. Nazir Ahmad, Home Secretary, and many senior offi­cers were also there. After the prayers, they visited the hospital to meet the valiant injured officers and men, who were all in high spirits.
The Chief Secretary, while talking to DSP Zamurrad Khan, told him that the government had sanctioned a handsome reward for him. Zamurrad, who still could not open his eyes, said, “Thank you very much, sir. But I am alive and don’t need any reward. Please arrange sufficient funds for the poor policemen, who have laid down their lives or were injured. Please look after their families and I shall feel re­warded.” His devotion to his men was touching.

Examples of great courage. The glorious deeds, projected through our police magazines and the national press, further motivated the rank and file of the police. By now the morale and motivation were so high that there was little need to push them into engaging the criminals. They were pouncing on them like eagles. The organized and violent criminals were on the run as the police was on their heels everywhere.
Shahadat follows prayer. DSP Iftikhar Khara had hardly finished his isha prayers when he was told that Baqir Shah, the scourge of Sheikhu­pura district, and his gang had murdered a person and were carrying the body in the boot of a stolen car. Within minutes, Iftikhar was in their hot pursuit.
Iftikhar took over the fleeing murderer and his companions. While Baqir Shah had dozens of murders to his count, Khara had gone into more than 100 such encounters. There were bursts of bullets from both sides. Baqir and his companions were killed, to the great relief of the people, but Iftikhar had to make the supreme sacrifice for this deed, along with his gal­lant gunman Shafqat.
It was an agony for me to lose such brave men but it brought hon­our and peace. The piety was pitted against evil and succeeded glori­ously.
Iftikhar Khara, an old Ravian and a religious man, was son of Ch. Sul­tan Ali, a well-known scientist and head of the Botany Department in Gov­ern­ment College, Lahore, and nephew of Ch. Sardar Ali, who re­tired as SP, with a great reputation for integrity and efficiency.
“I did it for Pakistan.” On Eid day, Inspector Shabbir Niazi, with his team, was on patrol duty on the Canal Road, near Mandi Bahauddin. When, on suspicion, he signaled an oncoming car to stop, bullets rained on his jeep, injuring everybody inside. The police team fired back and killed one of the culprits, while others ran away on foot, leaving behind their stolen car. One head constable breathed his last on the spot. The other critically injured po­licemen were taken to the hospital by the people. Shabbir Niazi was brought to Lahore Mayo Hospital.
I went to see him, along with Azhar Hasan Nadeem, DIG of the range. Shabbir was conscious and in high spirits. He was not con­cerned much about himself but was worried about the martyred head constable. He was also keen to know whether the culprits had been ar­rested.
“We will promote you and reward you,” I told him.
He showed little reaction. Then he said most soberly, “Sir, it was my duty. I am happy that I did it honourably. I am proud that none of my men turned his back. I have done it for Pakistan and not for pro­motion. I request you to pray to Allah that I meet Him as a shaheed.” I was moved by his brave words. After the usual consolation, I left. He appeared all right.
In the evening, Azhar Nadeem rang me. “Sir, that gallant officer has passed away,” he informed me.
“But he looked all right.” I could not believe him. “How did it hap­pen?”
“He was talking to his relatives when he breathed his last,” Azhar said. “In death I found a smile on his face.” Allah had granted him his wish to be a shaheed.

“Thank God, I have done my duty!” Saleem Fauji, a desperado aligned with Sipah-i-Sahaba, a militant Sunni sectarian organization, was killed in Jhang in an encounter with the police. His companions got enraged and mobilized their religious zealots into a fury, as if he was a saint. They in turn created a bigoted emotional frenzy in the city. The Shias panicked and gath­ered in an imam bargah to save their lives. The furious crowds surged and surrounded them, determined to burn them alive. The police guards and de­tachments were outnum­bered. It was a touch and go situation. The rein­forcements had to reach somehow the besieged and beleaguered minority and the encir­cled police.
Inspector Umar Hayat Wattoo, a lion-hearted officer, took four of his companions and pushed through the crowd in an armed personnel carrier to make way for reinforcements. The APC meandered through the thick crowd, which had all kinds of weapons and appeared deter­mined to kill the terrified men, women and children huddled in the imam bargah. The crowd started retreating and regrouping but its fury seemed to have weakened. But for his timely and bold initiative, they would have been butchered.
The rabble-rousers and their rabid patrons were disappointed as they were denied their prey at the last minute. Disappointed but de­termined not to give in, they made the police itself their target. They hit the armed person­nel car­rier, carrying Umar Hayat and his men, with a rocket launcher from a distant hideout, piercing its petrol tank. The carrier burst into flames. Two men were burnt there and then while three were rescued. They were badly burnt and were lifted to the Combined Military Hospital at Kharian in a heli­copter dispatched by Ghulam Haider Wyne, Chief Minister. The army doc­tors did their best to save them but they breathed their last one after the other.
Umar Hayat, while in death throes, felt very concerned about the be­sieged children and women. He was very happy when informed about their safe rescue. “Thank God, I have done my duty,” he said. He breathed his last immediately after that. He and his men laid down their lives coura­geously and saved the country from the worst possible Shia-Sunni distur­bances, which would have been certainly caused if the imam bargah in Jhang had been burnt. They wrote with their blood a glorious chapter in the annals of the Punjab Police.

Bravery against criminals. There were many glorious examples of fight against criminals. SI Rana Altaf was killed in Sheikhupura while coming out of a hamam (public bath) as he would not allow the sale of drugs anywhere in his area. A very big crowd gath­ered to pay well-deserved hom­age to the departed soul. Amanat Ali Amanat, a popular poet of the area, wrote a long poem in his praise. Nawaz Sharif visited his home to console his bereaved family. The MNAs and MPAs of the dis­trict also came to pay their re­spects.
In Faisalabad city, six dangerous criminals had been terrorizing the citi­zens. They had been trafficking in drugs and weapons while their accom­plices committed dacoities and collected ransom. They would abduct beauti­ful girls of respectable families and molest them. Sometimes they were hired to rape girls and women of enemies. They were killed in a splendid daylight encounter, under the command of Mirza Muhammad Ali, DIG, and Iftikhar Ahmad, SSP Faisalabad. A special thanksgiv­ing was arranged by the citi­zens to honour the fighters for peace,
There were also individual cases of great bravery. ASI Abdul Sattar in Mianwali made the trade of the drug mafia impossible. It hit back in cold blood and martyred him in a well-planned ambush. DSP Abdul Hameed Ni­azi was given a hero’s reception in Faisalabad for tackling single handedly Zulfi, a terror of the city.

There were hundreds of spectacular encounters with the outlaws in which scores of valiant policemen met an honourable death and hundreds of them were seriously injured but none of them received a single bullet on his back. It simply means that none of them tried to save his life by running away. A policeman, unlike an army soldier, always has a choice: to fight or not to fight. He can easily move aside to avoid any risk to his life and the criminals are always willing to offer great benefits for doing so. But these officers and men were ready to make any sacrifice in the service of their so­ciety. It was a glorious chapter of courage and conviction.
Hundreds of desperadoes were killed and injured while others were on the run but the police had to pay a very high price. Those fighting the ene­mies of society were earning honour for themselves and their colleagues. A few names that come to mind are Sultan Ahmad Garha, Ijaz Husain Shah, Zafar Iqbal, Nasrulla, Ch. Umar Hayat, Zahid Murad, Afzal, Abdul Hameed, Musa Khan, Ghulam Husain. They were the martyrs for peace.

Speech contests. Humayun Shafi, Assistant Inspector General, Train­ing, proposed a speech contest among the trainees on the gal­lantry and hero­ism of the policemen, who had laid down their lives in the performance of their duties. He prepared a plan and later improved it and made it compre­hensive with help from A/Hameed. The contests were arranged in all units, districts, ranges and branches of the prov­ince. The final contest was held in Gujran­wala, in which the winners at the lower levels from all over the province took part.
The vigorous and inspiring speeches in various contests, heard by thou­sands of policemen, highlighted the bravery and courage of the police martyrs and created an emotional atmosphere and noble sentiments in the force. It was difficult for many people to even imagine its ennobling influence on the psyche of the policemen. At many places they announced their determination to rise above the consideration of rewards and fight the crime and criminals as a service to the country, following the dictates of Islam and their con­science. Most of the winners donated their re­ward money to the Shaheed Fund, out of which financial aid was given to the families of the martyred policemen.
The speech contest was introduced as a permanent feature and detailed instructions were drawn up by A/Hameed. Some of the best speeches were published in the police magazines. The speeches were also videotaped and were shown repeatedly on the television sets in the police lines for constant morale-boosting.
Those who had seen the gallant fights themselves and had poetic abili­ties, wrote moving poems. Among the best were those by DIG Azhar Hasan Nadeem. In some cases, the poems were recited and sung by the leading singers free of cost. The audio and video cas­settes were played in the police lines. The police bands adopted some of the most stir­ring tunes and would play them on various occasions, paying tributes to their brave colleagues.
Khadim Husain Bhatti, Additional SP, Gujranwala, composed fine po­ems on the subject, inspired by his personal experiences in gallant fights. He had faced death himself in many encounters and also seen the valiant jawans laying down their lives courageously. His Punjabi composi­tions touched the hearts and inspired the men to achieve the supreme heights of bravery.

Honouring the shaheeds. The number of policemen killed and injured at Ojla Kalan was the largest in any single encounter in the history of the force. To commemorate their supreme sacrifice and to make them a source of inspiration for others, I declared February 19 every year to be the Police Day. The final of the speech contests on Police shaheeds was held on that day in 1993 to mark the beginning.
I issued instructions that, as a mark of respect, the graves of the sha­heeds in every district be visited on that day by suitably com­manded police contingents in ceremonial dress. The families of the shaheeds were to be visited on every Eid-ul-Fitr by senior officers, ac­companied by suitable pres­ents for their children. Such visits turned out to be very rewarding. The whole village or muhalla would feel honoured and large crowds would gather to pay homage to the sha­heeds. It was a great consolation for the families and very inspiring for the force.
Full salary for the “ever living.” Nawaz Sharif, as the Chief Minister, sanctioned Rs 300,000 for the family of every shaheed and half of that for every seriously injured policeman. Ghulam Haider Wyne, who succeeded him, approved the payment of full salary to the family of every shaheed till his due date of retirement as he would have himself received if he were alive. He had a very remarkable justification for this decision. While addressing the policemen in the Lahore District Police Lines, he declared that shaheed, according to the Holy Qur’an, was not to be called dead. “How can we stop his salary when he is deemed to be alive?”
District Shaheed Fund. Death, however glorious, does cause fi­nancial problems for the surviving family members. The policemen of the district usually contributed one day’s salary for the family of a sha­heed. To provide for immediate assistance, in addition to what the government would do, I decided that a “Shaheed Fund” would be set up in every district on perma­nent basis. The deputy commissioners, in coordination with other depart­ments, contributed gener­ously to the Shaheed Fund. The district councils, municipal corporations, municipal committees, chambers of commerce and industry, trade associa­tions and other bodies started contributing handsomely to the Fund.
Monuments for shaheeds. To commemorate the heroic deeds of po­licemen, monuments started coming up in several cities. In the police lines, monuments were built and barracks and buildings were named after them. Local bodies named roads and buildings after the names of local police he­roes. The major road junction near the Ravi bridge was named after DSP Amanulla Niazi. In Gujranwala city, life-size paintings of shaheeds were displayed at major road crossings.

The Punjab cabinet decided that next of kin of a shaheed, who could support his survivors, would be recruited forthwith in the police. The com­missioners and deputy commissioners took keen interest in allotting agricul­tural land and residential plots to the families of sha­heeds. They also made adequate arrangements for good education, free of cost, of the children of the shaheeds. In Gujranwala, the widow of a shaheed was keen for quality edu­cation for her sons. Kamran Ra­sool, the Commissioner, made permanent ar­rangements for their edu­cation at the Divisional Public School.

Tributes from people’s representatives. The devotion to duty and the supreme sacrifices of the gallant and dedicated policemen were eulogized most profusely in the National Assembly and the Pun­jab Assembly. It was a touching scene when a resolution, paying glowing tributes to the valour of the police, was moved in the Punjab Assembly by the leader of the opposi­tion, Rana Akram Rabbani, of PPP. It was passed unanimously. It was not just the party in power but the whole house praising the police for its serv­ices. It was a visible proof that the police was upholding the law and serving the people without any distinction or political bias.