NWFP loses its finest cop

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: The Frontier Police had not yet recovered from the loss of one of its bravest police officers Abid Ali that it lost Malik Muhammad Saad, arguably the finest cop in the province.

Abid Ali, who was killed by unknown gunmen after being waylaid in Mattani area near Peshawar in December, had earned promotion as deputy inspector-general of police at the same time last year as Malik Saad. Both were talented and fearless police officers. And they were destined to die unnatural deaths so close to each other.

Few police officers received the kind of public support that Malik Saad got upon his appointment as chief of capital city police on December 28, 2006. There was tremendous goodwill for him and people from different walks of life gave statements and wrote letters welcoming his appointment and hoping that he would free Peshawar of crime and bring order to their disorderly city. High expectations were attached to the upright cop who brooked no political interference in his work and had the guts to do his job without fear or favour. Such was the trust in Malik Saad that many people felt he possessed the magic wand to set things right and succeed where others may have failed.

Malik Saad received promotion to grade 19 on December 6 last year. The then IGP Muhammad Raffat Pasha pinned badges to his shoulders to formalize his promotion and to make him deputy inspector general of police. Like Abid Ali, he had been promoted at a relatively young age. It was early recognition of Malik Saad’s services as a brave and capable cop. It was, therefore, hardly surprising that IGP Pasha on that occasion generously praised him and remarked that both the people and police of the province trusted Malik Saad.

Born in Kohat, Malik Saad was a civil engineer. But fate brought him to the police and he served with so much dedication in every position he held that got the choicest jobs. His degree in civil engineering and his administrative experience prompted the provincial government to appoint him administrator of Peshawar Municipal Corporation and as head of Peshawar Development Authority, or CD&MD as it was renamed.

His performance in those two non-policing jobs was praised by his superiors as well as by the general public. However, it was as a police officer that Malik Saad mde his mark wherever he served. He headed the police in Peshawar and in Buner, Swat and Dir. He also did a stint as assistant inspector general of police for traffic in Peshawar. At all those places, he set standards that his successors found difficult to emulate.

His last weeks in life were spent clearing encroachments in Peshawar and streamlining the chaotic traffic in the city. Already, improvements were becoming visible and Peshawarites were hoping that things would become better and brighter in the days to come. It didn’t happen that way and now we know that Malik Saad was counting his days.

The end came violently with the suicide bomber, or the one who planted the bomb, aiming for Malik Saad and his police subordinates in what one could justifiably describe as targeted killing. Most of those killed were cops, both young and old and senior and junior. Among them were the ever-smiling and at times naughty deputy superintendent of police Khan Raziq and six young constables brought from Police Training College, Hangu in aid of local police to upgrade security for Ashura. And then there was Malik Saad, who offered the supreme sacrifice of his life leading his men from the front. That is how he operated as police officer in emergencies throughout his distinguished career and that is the way he would have preferred to die.

The News