Chaudhry Aslam : Death of a policeman

Chaudhry Aslam seemed to be the man with nine lives – no matter how often the Taliban targeted him he would manage to get away. His luck finally ran out on Thursday as an explosion near Hassan Square in Karachi killed Aslam and two other policemen. It is believed that the TTP was behind the attack, which also left seven people injured. In fact, just earlier that day, Aslam had been leading an operation in Manghopir against the militant outfit. Aslam had made plenty of enemies in a city where taking on anyone with power and influence can be fatal. The government is yet to confirm that the TTP was behind the attack, although the group itself claimed responsibility and suicide attacks aren’t a tactic used by other violent entities in the city. The specific nature of this attack is what makes it so chilling. The TTP had only one man in their sight – a man they had previously tried to kill in a brazen attack in his own home – and they did not give up till they got him. This will have a chilling effect throughout the ranks of the police, both in Karachi and the rest of the country. If you dare take on the militants they will not rest till they have exacted revenge.

His past has its fair share of controversies. He was an integral part of the infamous police operations in the 1990s and he was one of the few who managed to survive them with his job and life intact. Now, at a time when the police, prosecutors and judges are all fearful of taking on the TTP because of the possible repercussions, Aslam will be held up as an ideal security official who had confronted the militants and was seen by the TTP as a prime enemy because of his persistence. Matters of security will also come up in the wake of the killing. How were those carrying a heavy volume of explosives able to enter and roam through the streets of Karachi – a city where the Rangers and the police are deployed in large numbers? Why was it that the crossing on the Lyari Expressway, where attacks have also been carried out previously, not made safer? Have such questions become an inevitability after every incident of terrorism that claims common citizens or those whose job it is to guard our cities against the militants? The militant threat now grows stronger and its perpetrators certainly bolder having pulled of an attack and killing of this kind. So the most vital question will remain the one asked most often: what progress have the state and the government made in efforts to end militancy?