Tribute to Nawaz Malik

Islamabad : Muhammad Nawaz Malik holds the honor of being the first Inspector General of Islamabad Police, which was established in 1981. He was born on 18th September, 1935 in Shahpur (Sargodha), where he completed his early education while he earned a Master’s degree in English Literature from Islamia College Civil Lines, Lahore.

He served as the Inspector General of Islamabad Police from January, 1981 to August, 1986. His professional career started in January, 1962 when he joined Police Service of Pakistan, after passing CSS exam, as an Assistant Superintendent of Police.

He was appointed at various high level positions during his postings in different cities of Pakistan. He served as Superintendent of Police in Chitral (1965-66), Attock (1968-69), Rahim Yar Khan (1970) and as Senior Superintendent of Police Rawalpindi (1971-72). He was promoted as Deputy Inspector General of Police in 1973 and served as DIG at Sukhur (1973-76), Police Headquarters, Karachi (1976-77), Lahore (1977-79) and Bahawalpur (1980). On 1st January 1981, he was appointed Inspector General of Islamabad Police and served the people of federal capital till 14th August, 1986. After Islamabad, he was posted in Sindh as IG from 1987 to 1988. Furthermore, he acted as a joint director of Intelligence Bureau (Oct 1988 to Dec 1989), additional secretary at Prime Minister’s Secretariat (Dec 1989 to 1993) and chairman Pakistan Narcotics Control Board as well as secretary Narcotics Division (1993). His last posting as a police officer was at Ministry of Communications as Inspector General Enforcement from 1994 till September, 1995 after which he retired on 18th September, 1995. After retirement he served as Member of Ehtesab Commission from 1996 to 1999.

Malik Muhammad Nawaz was a celebrated police officer who never compromised on principles and was known for commitment to professional policing during his entire career spanning over more than three decades. As the first IG of Islamabad Police, he established and developed Islamabad Police as its rightful founder. After full deliberation and consultation with Scotland Yard Police, he raised a Police with different uniform with a different culture. He changed the uniform from black to blue just like police uniforms in all developed countries. He played an active role to change the mind set of colonial police to a police force with actual spirit. He had a lot of contributions but the most important one was the selection of 1983 ASI Batch in Islamabad Police. Before that, the police officers were taken on deputation basis from different provinces.

This batch was selected on merit without any political involvement. The IGP disconnected his phones so that no one could approach him and he completed all process purely on merit to recruit first batch of 40 probationer ASIs for the ICT Police from all provinces. They were trained under his direct supervision. They had become permanent resident of Islamabad, despite having domicile from all four provinces in to a beautiful combination of the flavor of four provinces with their outstanding feature of character. This 1983 Batch of ASIs had contributed a lot to make Islamabad a Model City as far as the crime rate and traffic issues were concerned. They served the capital city of Pakistan with full devotion and dedication. They not only served in ICT but many of them also served in UN Peace keeping Missions and earned Medals and gained lot of appreciation.

Muhammad Nawaz Malik left this world on 5th June, 2012 and was buried in Islamabad graveyard. We need to highlight such civil servants whose career can serve as a precedent for everyone else to follow so that our country’s problems related to administration and governance can be resolved. Police is the most important department of the administration to provide justice to the nation.

— Zafar Bakhtawari