KHYBER: The killing of a civilian in police uniform during an armed attack on a checkpost in Bara on July 16 caused embarrassment to the force as the deceased was performing duty as a substitute for an unknown regular policeman.

Police in Bara initially said that two of their colleagues were killed in the attack but the statement was immediately corrected by the spokesman at the Shah Kas Police Training Centre in Jamrud.

The official statement said that a policeman Said Karim and a civilian Abdur Rahim were killed in the attack in Arjali Nadi and arrangements were being made for the official funeral of the deceased policeman at the Shah Kas centre. The body of the ‘proxy’ policeman was handed over to his family despite that the fact that he was killed in uniform inside the checkpost.

Referred to as ‘Eywazi’ or ‘proxy’ by local police and even ordinary tribesmen in Khyber and other tribal districts, the number of such persons, deputising for regular police in different localities, is not known nor the police officials bother to keep any record of such persons.

DPO says he is investigating the matter to take action as per rules

Downplaying the presence of Abdur Rahim at the checkpost during the attack, Bara SHO Sawalzer Khan told Dawn that in fact he was a cook and was ‘mistakenly’ present there.

DPO Mohammad Imran, when contacted, said that he had given clear instructions to all the SHOs that the practice of hiring ‘proxies’ should be discouraged and no such person should be allowed to perform any official or security duty as it was against rules and regulations.

He said that he had clearly instructed personnel of police force to apply for leave for any legitimate reason and the leave would be granted but such policemen were not allowed to acquire the services of a proxy to substitute for him at any place.

He said that he was investigating the presence and killing of a ‘proxy’ in Bara and action would be taken as per rules against those, who were responsible for it.

The practice of hiring services of ‘proxy’ has been in vogue in tribal areas for the last few decades. A number of the former khasadars, who had either gone to foreign countries in search job or had taken up part-time jobs in other cities of Pakistan along with running parallel businesses, used to hire a local person to perform duty in his place during his absence.

Some of the ‘proxies’ were also killed in attacks by terrorists in different parts of tribal areas. However, their services were not acknowledged. None of them were given any special monetary package as well despite repeated requests from their family members.

The local elders too have ‘a behind the scene’ role in continuation of the said practice as they pressurise the police officials for temporarily relieving their kith and kin from official duties while providing a substitute in his place.

Sources in Torkham told Dawn that a considerable number of such ‘proxy’ policemen had been performing duty on some lucrative positions near the border since long while the original policemen occupied other posts for personal gains.

They said that the ‘proxy’ mafia was so strong that so far every effort to dislodge them from their current positions had met failure.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2022