This Article was originally Published by Daily Dawn Karachi. The Writer of the Article is Ismail Khan and we are publishing it as guest post for our reader

The bugle was blown. A gun-salute rang in the air as the casket was lowered into the grave. At that moment the tears could no longer be held back as memories flashed through my head like the reel of a film: Safwat Ghayyur’s hearty laugh, his characteristic way of lighting up his cigarette, the way his eyes would crinkle up when he teased me about this or that.

Safwat had never hankered after a job or a particular post. An excellent police officer, the best postings dropped into his lap. But the Frontier Constabulary was one force that he wanted to command. “The force is in a bad shape. It is badly demoralised”, he told me.

So when the opportunity presented itself in December 2009 he took up the job without a second thought for his personal welfare.

Even though just a couple of months earlier in September he had sought to be relieved of his job as the Deputy Inspector General of Peshawar Range and the Capital City Police Chief of Peshawar for medical reasons –- under pressure from his family, friends and well wishers.

He was suffering from hepatitis -– a disease he had contracted because of a blood transfusion he was given after a bullet pierced his left shoulder following a shootout with an outlaw in Mardan in 1997.

At that time, he was the Assistant Inspector General, Traffic, NWFP, and had no business being part of a shoot out.

But Safwat being Safwat, he joined the force that had encircled a criminal in an encounter.It was a crippling wound for the left-handed Safwat.

The unaware doctor who operated on Safwat’s shoulder thought he was consoling his patient when he said “the good news is that it was your left shoulder that has been hit.” The quick-witted Safi retorted, “And the bad news is that I am left handed.”

But the real bad news was unbeknown to Safi then. Over a decade later, the old bullet wound came back to haunt him in the form of hepatitis C, when he was hunting down militants in the Peshawar region as the DIG/CCP, Peshawar Range.

He was a relentless man, who took his job very seriously. And therefore, when routine medical tests revealed the infectious disease, Safi called his doctor in Rawalpindi for the medicines over the phone.

A frustrated Dr Amir Bilal, a cardiothoracic surgeon and Safi’s brother-in-law said that Safi should have been in Rawalpindi for the medical check-up. “But he can’t even be bothered to take time off from his work to go as far as Hashtnagri,” Amir Bilal said, referring to a locality in the old part of Peshawar City.

Dr Amir was worried because Safi was not responding to his treatment. His platelets level had dropped and any wound from a bullet or flying shrapnel from a bomb explosion could have proved fatal for Safwat.

But then Safwat was not an armchair police officer; he never had been. And this worried his friends and relatives. He was a man who led from the front. He liked to be with his troops, rain or sunshine.

He would spend nights with his men in tents in far-away wilderness, swim through the cold river Kabul during the frosty winters drills and sweat it out in humid summers.

A real officer, who believed in action, he had no respect for colleagues who would avoid hot-zones. In his words, the “talcum-powdered, starched-uniform wearing officers.”

An MP-5 slinging from his shoulder and a wireless radio in his hand, he would always be in the forefront. No wonder then that those who cared and knew about his conditions realised that a bullet or shrapnel wound was a real possibility. It caused them nightmares.

Very few people knew in fact that six units of platelets were always kept for him in the blood bank which had to be replaced with fresh blood after every five days; the shelf life of platelets. But Safi was undeterred.

He even declined an offer from Chief Minister Akram Hoti to seek medical treatment abroad. He was too busy carrying out operations against the militants in Peshawar, the Frontier Regions and even as far as Kala Dhaka.

But while the undeterred police officer was winning the battle against militancy in the Peshawar region, the man was losing the battle against the disease. “Handsome!” (his way of addressing his friends), he would says, “One day, you will hear that your brother is no more.”

I never saw him snap under pressure. But he did feel the heat when, following an attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel, Peshawar in June last year, a whispering campaign of sorts was initiated against him.

This upset him in a way that the death threats from the Taliban against him and his family -– a wife and two kids -– did not. “I have put my life on the line and those of my family. I am not going to tolerate any talk,” a seemingly angry Safwat told me.

He was a no-nonsense, blunt man, who never shied away from calling a spade as spade, often to the embarrassment of his seniors, some of whom had no love lost for him either.

Safwat had always had a penchant for intelligence operations, something he developed a passion for while serving as the AIG, Criminal Investigation Department (CID). And he was not an ordinary criminal investigator. His work would at times take him across the border into Afghanistan.

He was probably the only police officer of his generation in Pakistan to have complete knowledge of the various militant groups and their training camps in Afghanistan including those run and operated by Osama bin Laden and his associates.

This even got him in trouble with security and intelligence apparatus and a series of inquiries were launched against him. But he was always cleared.

After interrogating a rabid anti-Shia militant he had captured in 1995, he sent a report to the government, asking for a “dispassionate review” of Pakistan’s policy of patronising the various militants groups. “These are nameless, faceless people”, he would say then. “One day, these chickens will come home to roost.”

But then Safwat’s encounters with militants started back in the 90s, with local ones as well as foreigners, when he was SSP, Peshawar.

Then he rounded up hundreds of foreign militants, after Islamabad ordered a crackdown following an attack on the World Trade Centre in New York which was traced to a Peshawar-based group led by Ramzi Yousaf.

Later, in April 1997, he planned and executed Operation Garbage Dump to flush out a group of foreign militants holed up inside a compound in Jalozai just outside of Peshawar.

That and his four years of stint at the Intelligence Bureau proved handy for him when he took over as the DIG/CCP Peshawar Range to confront the surging militancy. And he did it by first improving the sagging morale of his police force.

He was a good commander, who would take pains to look after his men; he knew most of them by name. He was a strict disciplinarian and tough task master, who took duty and professional matters very seriously.

But he was no less a human being in his personal life. The super cop, who was always on the trail of hardened criminals, kidnappers and terrorists, was also an elder brother and a dependable friend. Hardly a day would go by, when we would not meet or speak — this had been so for almost two decades.

I knew he was on the hit list of the militants but it never occurred to me that one day, I would be standing beside his grave, looking down at his coffin. That one day, I would bid him farewell forever.

He knew he was losing the fight against the disease. But I am certain that he too would have chosen to die with his boots on than to lose life’s battle against a disease.

The hero, who was killed in a suicide attack on Aug 4 in Peshawar, has now joined the galaxy of the many other illustrious stars of our proud police force -– Malik Mohammad Saad, Abid Ali, Khan Raziq and so many others.

Courtesy: Dawn

It was in the dargah compound of Ajmer when our phones started buzzing with friends and relatives wanting to share grief on the loss of a woman who was both loved and hated but never ignored. This was the typical winter dusk and we were returning from a soulful traditional dua-i-roshnayee (pre-sunset prayer) where candles are lit in remembrance of the much revered Khawaja. Amidst frantic phone calls from grieving friends, the shock was cushioned in the mystical atmosphere as one reaffirmed that God’s will was above everything. But the aching sense of loss for Pakistan haunted us despite the calming effect of Ajmer.

It was this strong faith in God and in her mission that brought Benazir Bhutto back to Pakistan after an exile of nearly a decade. She returned despite the knowledge that she was on borrowed time; and there were heinous elements who wanted to physically eliminate her. Benazir was a lover of the mystics and had visited Ajmer thrice as we found out from the deeply-shocked residents of this small medieval town. Coming from Sindh, the land of the Sufis and poets, Bhutto was a devotee of Khawaja Ghareeb Nawaz. Like a true Bhutto she was not afraid of death as the believers consider it to be ordained by God in the first place. But the truth is that she is no more; and this is hard to reconcile with.

One cannot miss the symbolism of the location where Bhutto was killed. The place, Liaquat Bagh, is named after Pakistan’s first prime minister who was also shot here. The reasons for his death are still not known other than the simple imperative that in Pakistan, legitimate politicians need to be eliminated. This tragic place in Rawalpindi is also not far from the place where Benazir’s father was hanged in 1979; and whose legacy refuses to go away.

At least in Benazir’s case, the battle lines were clearer. A patently violent brand of political Islam masking itself as anti-imperial and aided by powerful elements within the Pakistani establishment is hell-bent on destroying Pakistan’s political and social fabric. Contrary to what many believe, this embedded dysfunction is above all a threat to Pakistan and its burgeoning population. The region and the world come next. In India, the comparisons between Rajiv and Benazir have been unavoidable as the two countries have suffered from the endemic violence, dynastic politics and a symbiotic relationship defined by cyclical political turbulence.

Today’s subcontinent has all but forgotten the tolerant and inclusive Islam that was practised by the Sufis and which in large measure shapes the belief system of a vast of majority of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. This is what the militancy and its official backers are now set out to achieve but they forget that centuries of tradition of peace and inclusion can be dented but cannot be reversed.

Bhutto’s mass appeal remained a formidable challenge to the Pakistani establishment that failed to undo the legacy of people-centred politics for three decades. The Bhutto brand of politics came about without the manipulations of the bureaucratic steel-frame that shaped Pakistani politics, often in tandem with foreign interests. Benazir’s return in October showed that her popular support was intact despite the corruption charges, trials — real and media-led – and continued impression of incompetence and opportunism in a culture of misogyny and violence against women. Her worst opponents could not deny her dazzling articulation and grasp of global politics. And, now like her father she also demonstrated an uncanny sense of history, of seizing the moment and dying for the cause of political process in the militarized Pakistan.

This fearlessness of death is a Sufi trait as death is just another phase in our journeys and struggles. The inclusive and multicultural legacy of the Sufis is endangered by the rise of militant Islam and politics of elimination. Benazir Bhutto had drawn on this legacy and in her death we are reminded of the urgency to revisit and build on that legacy.

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The tragic deliberate assassination of Benazir Bhutto on 27^th Dec 2007 marked in the history of Pakistan as the second event after the merciless killing of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on 4rth April 1979 which shocked whole the nation and shacked the very roots of the state. It was just unbelievable and very much painful for a tender heart. No words to explain the state of shock, grief and emotions the nation suffered. The people belonging to all communities in the country as well as the entire world condemned killing of the great leader. Unfortunately it has been the history of Pakistan that the leaders have been killed in ruthless manner since independence. The formality of so-called investigation is done and the calamities become fairly the pages of the history books but this story should not end that way it must bring a big change in the fate of the country.

The point worth noting is to why the Bhutto family has been the target since beginning, the so-called judicial hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, poisoning conspiracy of Shahnawaz Bhutto, murder of Murtaza Bhutto and now Benazir Bhutto. All these events seem to be continuation of a single agenda, to wipe out Bhutto family.

Elites of Pakistan do not like to be ruled by anyone else even having majority in the political ground; it is higher than their prestige to be governed by inferior people. The East Pakistan detached and became a sovereign state because their majority was denied.

The same tradition of the denial of majority was repeated once again when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was killed. He was one of the greatest leaders of the world and the real representative of the people of Pakistan. For instance a vast majority of people of Pakistan were socio-economically poor and anti-American. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s regime was poor-loving and wanted to introduce the policy of socialism and went openly against the US. The symbol of democracy was mercilessly hanged. Who killed him and why?

At present the elites are in the form of establishment. Due to the failed policies of the establishment Musharraf was weakened particularly the case of the chief justice and in anxiety state he went for the national reconciliation.

When Benazir Bhutto decided to come back to Pakistan, many rumors spread that all it was because of a deal and she was confirm as the prime minister with Musharraf as the president. On 18^th Oct when she came back from self-exile to homeland the hundreds of thousands of people gathered for welcome of Benazir Bhutto created very much unrest for the establishment and alarms of danger rang in their ears. After coming back to home her statements were firm, straightforward and even against president Musharraf, many times in election campaign rallies she clearly roared, “One more push for the falling wall”, since the issue of the chief justice Musharraf has been on decline. Many people thought that the combined setup of Benazir and Musharraf would not go a long way. Benazir Bhutto might have intention of collapsing the current setup completely to establish democracy in its real form for which she went among the people to motivate them to get a clear-cut majority. She knew that her life was at risk nevertheless she did not compromise with her mission and lost her life striving for democracy until her last breath.

Benazir Bhutto’s policies were clearly against Al-Qaeda and all other extremist groups even she did not like to sit together with the leaders of MMA, she could have become a big hurdle for the pursuits of Al-Qaeda if she had come to power. In Muslim world only Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons therefore has been a focus of the big powers, the US and Britain in particular. It is in their national interests that Al-Qaeda should not get access to the nuclear technology. They would support the regimes in Pakistan which are against Al-Qaeda and in accordance with them. Therefore Benazir Bhutto got continuous support from the west especially she gained more sympathies when she raised the issue of AQ khan. All this could be an eye-sore for Al-Qaeda. But the point should be noted that she was not in power at the moment so she was not an immediate or so much urgent problem for Al-Qaeda. One can hardly believe that Al-Qaeda is responsible for the assassination.

For whom she was the biggest hurdle? Question arises here. Benazir Bhutto was leading the biggest political party of Pakistan; she also had received a warm welcome at her arrival and her stance was very strong in the election campaign rallies. It was expected that she could have swept a prominent majority in forthcoming elections and as a result become able to topple the establishment.

In fact it is too earlier to say confirm who killed Benazir Bhutto but it is clear that these elements do not want the real democracy in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto’s killing is the murder of sentiments of the people of Pakistan. The great leaders do not born daily. Like guardians who earn livelihood, run their houses and care about their families, the leaders are guardians of the nations. When parents die the offspring becomes orphan and when leaders die nations fall into anarchy then disorder and destruction is the ultimate fate.

Benazir Bhutto’s death is loss of democracy, loss of whole the nation and in particular the people of Sindh. A wave of hatred was evident among masses in Sindh after her death. These people ask why the leaders belonging to Sindh province are being killed. All the benefit goes to a particular class of people who are non-democratic and have resolved to remain in power at any cost. Benazir Bhutto’s death has created a vacuum in politics of the country which can not be filled by any means but the responsibilities and mission she has left on the shoulders of people of Pakistan must be accomplished.

All efforts should be put for a proper and sincere investigation for finding the objective of killing her and the killers who should be prosecuted according to the law as soon as possible.

Fair and free elections should be arranged and let the power be shifted without hesitance and jealousy to the parties which get majority in elections. Further a complete provincial autonomy can be solution of many problems of the country; all the provinces should be given their reasonable rights to avoid provincial dominancy of big province of Punjab and feeling of nothingness and despair among the people of small provinces.

This tragic event has brought Pakistan to a turning point. As the time passes by the reality becomes evident and the truth always wins. If Al-Qaeda has killed Benazir Bhutto then the matter is different but if the establishment is proved to be involved in removing her from the political field then it may become a challenge for the national integrity of Pakistan.

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The Politics of any state has a sound impact on each and every individual of the state. Whatever is going on in a country, whatever the future political planning is and the direction in which the country is proceeding have a profound effect on individuals. In many revolutions of the world students have played an active role as the world witnessed in Iranian revolution. No one can neglect the role of students in the development and progress of a nation as they are the wheels on which the vehicle of the state will run in future.

Being students of university, it is appreciable neither to close eyes and turn face from the political issues and problems of our homeland nor to entangle ourselves fully in politics so that our studies and professionalism is compromised.

Before going further, we should know what is politics? “The activities involved in getting and using power in public life and being able to influence decisions that affect a country or a civil society is known as politics”. The politics had been the profession of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the main aim of politics is to serve and benefit to everyone concerned.

Contrary to that, practically the politics in our country has been misused at each and every level and its results have been extremely negative. It is a well known reality that unfortunately the role of the political parties in educational institutions has been so much terrifying that it has swept many hopeful and costly lives. The life of a university student costs price of a single bullet. The walls and floors of many educational institutions are coloured red by blood shed by students. This condition stuns a sensible person.

No need to go in details of all the events we are familiar to those events in the past and what is going on nowadays throughout our country.

It is the matter of the state to decide for the existence of the political parties in educational institutions but at this moment all the parties whether nationalist or mainstream should clarify their aims and objectives in their manifesto for residing in educational institutions what they really want to achieve.

The parties should have a positive role in the development and progress in the context of studies and profession, in solving problems of students. Further they can also play a pivotal role by supporting the financially weak university students by funds collected from various entities and especially those who are unable even to get admission after they are selected through entry tests. If these are the main objective then all the parties should sincerely proceed to achieve the noble cause and stop misusing students for their hidden objectives.

The parties misuse students and students misuse the powers obtained by joining a party. Most of the students join party in order to gain unlawful powers and to impose personal decisions over majority and to have a big share from various funds. They fight innocent colleagues and each other for their influence, selfishness and egotism.

The parties should stop their blind support to those student leaders who are the real cause of threat to contaminate the study and welfare environment but should support those who really want to achieve the noble objectives.

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