–JIT, constituted under anti-terror act, comprises police, intelligence officers
–Rs15m announced in compensation package for martyred police official’s heirs
ISLAMABAD: The authorities on Friday formed a seven-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the abduction and murder of Police SP Tahir Dawar, a notification issued by the chief commissioner of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) said.
SP Dawar, who was the chief of Peshawar police’s rural circle, was kidnapped in the G-10/4 area of Islamabad on October 26, and his body was found in a remote area of the Afghan province of Nangarhar on Tuesday.
Police Investigation SP will head the JIT to probe the killing and there will be one member each from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI), the notification said, adding that Islamabad SP, Shalimar Circle sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) and Crime Investigation Department (CID) deputy superintendent of police (DSP) are also a part of the team.
The JIT has been formed under Section 19 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.
“The Joint Investigation Team shall complete investigation within the stipulated time period as laid down in the ATA 1997,” read the notification.
COMPENSATION:
The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) approved compensation for the martyred SP Dawar’s heirs, provincial information minister announced Friday.
“Tahir Dawar’s heirs will be given Rs15 million under the ‘Shaheed Package’,” KP Information Minister Shaukat Yousufzai said in a statement issued to media. “The package includes financial compensation and a plot.”
He stated that Dawar was serving as a grade-17 officer and his widow will be given salary until the time when the martyred officer was supposed to retire from service.
The statement further mentioned that one of Dawar’s sons will be recruited in the police as assistant sub-inspector (ASI).
PM’S NOTICE:
On Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan called for an investigation into the murder of SP Dawa as the martyred police officer’s body was handed over to Pakistan at the Torkham border. He was later laid to rest in the Hayatabad area of the city before his funeral prayer at the Peshawar’s Police Lines.
“Minister of State for Interior Shahryar Afridi has been tasked to oversee it with an urgency and present the report to me,” the premier said.
‘MORE TO THAN MEETS THE EYE’:
Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor said that the brutal murder of SP Tahir Dawar in Afghanistan is highly condemnable.
In a series of tweets, the ISPR DG said SP Tahir Dawar’s abduction, move to Afghanistan and follow up behaviour by Afghan authorities raised questions which indicated the involvement or resources more than that of a terrorist organisation in Afghanistan.
The military spokesman reiterated that while investigations by Pakistani authorities were in process, Afghan security forces should cooperate in border fencing and bilateral border security coordination to deny the use of Afghan territory against Pakistan.
The Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson said that after the news of Dawar’s death broke out, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Pakistan in Kabul immediately contacted Afghan authorities for confirmation of the news and handing over of the body of the deceased to Pakistan.
The spokesperson further said that the Afghan envoy in Islamabad was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs twice on Wednesday, and again Thursday afternoon to register a strong protest over the inordinate delay and manner of return of the body.
The spokesperson hoped that Afghan authorities will offer full cooperation in ascertaining the circumstances under which a Pakistani police officer was found killed in Afghanistan.
