217 cops martyred since January 2023

PESHAWAR: As many as 217 policemen have been martyred in different kinds of attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since January 2023 amid an increase in terror attacks in recent years.

Most of these cops were martyred in attacks carried out in Peshawar, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts. Dera Ismail Khan, the hometown of the KP governor and chief minister, has been witnessing the worst law and order issue for the last few years.

The total casualties of the force last year was 175 while 42 policemen have lost lives during the current year. Last year, over 85 policemen were martyred in a single attack on the headquarters of Peshawar Police in January.

In the last one week, attacks were carried out on two police posts in the provincial capital that claimed one life and injured another.While going through the statistics since 2006, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have sacrificed 1711 policemen from the rank of constable up to additional inspector general in the last 18 years.

The total number of fallen heroes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 1970 is 2080, out of which 369 were martyred till 2006.For the first time, attacks on the force recorded an increase in 2006. Since then the province lost some of its most decorated officers along with many others in suicide attacks, bomb blasts, target killings, ambushes and encounters.

The Peshawar police have lost the highest number of cops, 362, followed by Dera Ismail Khan with 173, Bannu 153, Mardan 121 and Swat district police 104 martyrs. This does not include the number of other units of the force martyred in these districts.

Among the units the Frontier Reserved Police sacrificed 203 policemen while Elite Force sacrificed 111 in different districts of KP. To pay homage to all the fallen heroes, the country is observing Police Martyrs Day on August 4.

“We will pay homage to our martyrs throughout the week till August 4. We have arranged a number of functions including salute to the martyrs at their graves, sending gifts to their families, holding Quran Khwani, seminars and blood donation camps to pay tributes to our martyrs,” the chairman of the Martyrs Day committee and additional inspector general Muhammad Alam Shinwari told The News. He said the KP Police take special care of the families of martyrs and desks have been set up at the central police office and every district for this purpose.

In the last many years, the biggest attack on police happened on the headquarters of the Peshawar Police in January. A suicide bomber detonated explosives around his vest during the Zuhr prayers on January 30 in the mosque of the police lines, named after martyred officer Malik Muhammad Saad Shaheed.

Around 85 people were martyred in the attack and over 200 were wounded. Some reports put the death toll in the attack as around 100.As many as 116 policemen were martyred across KP in the first month of the last year. The number of martyrs went up to 175 by the end of the year.

Before 2023, the years from 2007 to 2014 was the worst time for KP Police when hundreds of senior and junior cops were attacked in the province, particularly Peshawar.The worst year during that time was 2009 when 209 policemen, including one SP, three DSPs and four inspectors were martyred in different terrorist attacks in the province.

According to the KP police record, 107 cops were martyred in different attacks in 2007, 172 in 2008, 209 in 2009, 107 in 2010 and 154 in 2011, 106 in 2012, 134 in 2013 and 111 policemen were martyred in 2014.

Things started improving in 2015. As many as 61 policemen were martyred in KP in 2015, 74 in 2016, 36 in 2017, 30 in 2018, 38 in 2019, 34 in 2020 and 44 in 2021 and 56 in 2022.

Attacks started registering an increase again in late 2021.The fallen heroes during the last 18 years included two additional inspector generals, Safwat Ghayur and Ashraf Noor, DIGs Malik Saad and Abid Ali, six SSPs/SPs and around 20 DSPs/acting SPs.

The biggest number of fallen heroes is that of constables. Around 1200 constables laid down their lives in different attacks in KP since 2007. They were always ahead of officers in operations, raids and while facing suicide bombers and other attacks.