PESHAWAR: The government has failed to compensate the policemen, who sustained fatal wounds and lost parts of their bodies in sabotage acts in Peshawar.

The maimed policemen have to pay frequent visits to the offices of the newly-established ‘ghazi shaheed’ branch of the police department for solution to their problems.

Not only the injured but families of the killed policemen have also complained against the clerical staff for not forwarding their files timely. They have to request the staff concerned to cooperate with them so that they could be compensated by the government.

Injured policemen have to pay frequent visits to newly established ‘ghazi shaheed’ branch to solve their problems

Syed Ali Shah is one of the 350 police personnel, who sustained injuries in different bomb blasts, encounters and sabotage acts in parts of the provincial metropolis during the past few years. Of the injured policemen, some 13 got serious wounds and many of them lost parts of their bodies.

Mr Shah had sustained serious wounds in a blast at CIA police station in cantonment area of Peshawar in 2009. He lost both his legs in the blast but it could not dent his courage.

Unlike his other colleagues, he is obliged to the police department particularly IGP Nasir Khan Durrani for helping him in availing the artificial limbs. He says that the artificial limbs enabled him to go to mosque, participate in family functions and attend police darbar and other unavoidable meetings.

However, he faces problem in using public transport and his only demand is provision of a motorcycle. “I have applied to the social welfare department for a motorcycle but my application is yet to be considered. I request the IGP to help me in this regard,” he says.

Abdul Qadeem, another constable of Dag village on Warsak Road, also lost one of his legs. The government handed him over Rs100,000. His leg was severed in the thigh and he is still vying for obtaining a quality artificial limb. “I have got an artificial leg but it does not suit me and I face hardships in walking. It sometimes causes wounds, especially in hot summer,” he says.

The maimed constable says that he has six children and the eldest one is only 11-year-old. “I have lost a leg but even then the staff concerned at police lines forces me to come to perform duty,” he says. Many of the constables, who have got injuries, have been exempted from duty, he adds. He demands of the IGP to take notice of discrimination against him.

About 13 policemen received fatal injuries in sabotage acts in the limits of the provincial metropolis from 2008 to 2014. Of them, Afzal Sher, Haider Ali, Sartaj, Burhanullah, Mohammad Tariq, Abdul Qadeem each has lost one leg. Those who have lost their one eye include Nadeem, Zarshad and Kamran while Asif, Ashiq Khan and Tajamul Khan each has lost a hand.

However, Iftikhar has lost two fingers of his left hand and Saifur Rehman lost his mental balance owing to multiple injuries. The data shows that of 347 wounded policemen in Peshawar 23 are sub-inspectors, 10 assistant sub-inspectors and two inspectors.

Of the fatally injured policemen only one has been paid Rs0.5million while the rest have been ignored by the government for unknown reasons.

The policemen, who were killed in the line of duty during the same period in Peshawar, include 21 sub-inspectors, 11 assistant sub-inspectors, three inspectors, two deputy superintendents, three superintendents and one additional inspector general.

The killed SPs include, Khurshid Khan, Hilal Haider and Abdul Kalam Khan while the DSPs are Rasheed Khan and Gulfat Hussain and the additional inspector general is Safwat Ghayyur.

The provincial government has already announced a package for the killed policemen to compensate their families. The civil servants, who are killed in the terrorist acts, are also given the same package.

The families of the killed constables, head constables, assistant sub-inspectors, sub-inspectors and inspectors, from BPS-5 to BPS-16, and civil servants in BPS 1to16 BPS are given Rs3 million under the package.

The families of the killed ASPs and DSPs in BPS-17 and civil servants in the same scale are given Rs5 million. The killed SP, SSP and AIGs in BPS-18 to BPS-19 and civil servants in the same grade are given Rs9 million while the killed DIG, AIG and IGP and civil servants in the same scale are given Rs10 million under the package. They are paid salaries till retirement age and a residential plot also.

The lamentable aspect of the welfare plan is that the police personnel, who are supposed to facilitate the children and widows of their killed colleagues, are not considering their cases in an appropriate manner.

One can easily observe the injustices with widows of the killed policemen visiting offices in police lines for solution to their problems. “I am widow of a policeman. I visit the offices frequently to get the compensation money but the officials concerned are using delaying tactics to solve my problem,” a woman told this scribe.

However, she avoided disclosing her identity due to fear of reprisal by the clerical staff of ‘ghazi shaheed’ department. She demanded of the high ups of the department to pay attention to their case and get them rid of the exploiters.

SSP Najeebur Rehman Bugvi, when contacted, said that those cases were pending owing to objections raised by the Auditor General of Pakistan Office otherwise police department had no issue in that regard.

“I have taken up these cases with relevant officials and expedite work on them. Some of the cases are pending on technical grounds so that the actual heirs could get the compensation,” the SSP said.

Mr Bugvi said that in case of doubt the relevant departments had to collect complete documents and affidavits to discourage irrelevant people. About the complaints in delay of recruitment of relatives on the seats of killed policemen, he said that the issue also needed confirmation so that the deserving people could be appointed.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2014