SP Tahir Dawar’s family ‘disappointed’ with govt, police

PESHAWAR: The family members of martyred police officer Muhammad Tahir Dawar have complained that the government and his own police department did not make any serious effort to recover him.

Talking to The News, the family members said the last message which was received on October 27 at 7:20 pm from SP Tahir Dawar’s mobile phone read, “I am at Sarai Alam Gir near Jehlum. I perfect but out area signals are bad don’t you guy worry if phone is not responding because of weak signals.”

His daughter Nadia said the text message was in English while her father normally sent voice messages. “My father did not use words like guys,” she pointed out.She added that her father went to office on October 26 and informed them that he would go to Islamabad in the evening for a meeting.

She recalled that her father called home at 4pm, saying he was going to Islamabad and would return at night.According to Nadia, a friend of her father had rented a house in Islamabad’s Sector G-10. “Whenever we went to Islamabad we stayed there,” she added.

She said her father had called the cook to prepare dinner for him. “Our father always stayed in touch with us and whenever he was out of home he would call us,” Nadia said.She said on that day her father called home in the evening after reaching Islamabad. “We were waiting for him to return home. It was around 11pm when my mother tried to call him on his cellphone but it was switched off,” she recalled.

“We also tried to contact the servant, but his cellphone was also off,” she added.She said that her mother, uncle and elder brother Amjad Tahir went to Islamabad where the servants told them that her father left the house at around 7:30pm after having the dinner.

She added that her father also left behind one mobile phone, wireless phone, wallet and his pistol at home.His other daughter Noor Jabeen said initially some media reports linked the kidnapping of her father to personal enmity by citing the murder case of her uncle Muhammad Alam Advocate and his wife.

She argued that her uncle and his wife were killed on account of a property dispute.Ahmaduddin Dawar, the brother of the slain SP, said Prime Minister Imran Khan offered condolences to him at the Prime Minister’s House.

“It was shameful and against the norms that our family was called to the PM House for offering us condolences,” he lamented.He said that he had asked the prime minister to probe the murder of his brother through an international commission, but he refused to do so by arguing that a UN commission had probed the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and its performance was unsatisfactory.

He said the prime minister announced that a joint investigation team (JIT) would probe the murder.Ahmaduddin Dawar claimed that the prime minister promised to get the murder probed by the UN commission if the family was not satisfied with the JIT report.

Muhammad Tahir Khan Dawar was born on December 4, 1968 in Khadi village in Mir Ali tehsil in North Waziristan. He was a keen learner and wanted to become a soldier.After getting Bachelor’s degree in 1989 he started his career in nursing and teaching at his village.

In 1995, Tahir Dawar passed the Public Service Commission examination and was appointed as Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) in Bannu.After joining the Police Department, he continued his studies and did Master’s in Pashto in 1997. He was made SHO of a police station in Bannu in 1998 and promoted as Sub-Inspector in 2002.

Later he was promoted to the rank of Inspector in 2007.He was awarded the Quaid-e-Azam Police Award in 2011.In 2009, he was transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Peshawar where he worked as Assistant Director for three years.

In 2014 he was promoted as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). He served as DSP Crime Circle Peshawar, DSP Capital City Police Office and DSP Faqirabad Peshawar. He was promoted as Superintendent of Police Rural Circle in August this year.

During his 23 years police service he was sent on United Nations Peacekeeping Mission to Morocco in 2003 and to Sudan in 2005. He also visited Australia when he was serving in the FIA.

Tahir Dawar was injured in terrorist attacks when terrorism was at its peak in the province.He sustained injuries in a clash with the militants in 2005. Subsequently, the terrorists attacked his house when he was posted at Bannu in 2008.

Tahir Dawar got married in 1988. He is survived by his wife and seven children including five daughters.His elder son Amjad Tahir lost his right hand during childhood due to electrocution in 2002. He has done his Masters in Political Science.