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FC Commandant Siffat Ghayoor Martyred in Peshawar Blast

A hero who died with his boots on
Monday, 09 Aug, 2010

By Ismail Khan

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.

DAWN.COM | National | A hero who died with his boots on
 
I am so sad after watching this video.This guy was a real hero_Operating in a very dangerous place and i am amazed by his security.Even a SSP in Lahore would have better security but this brave officer did not take much security with him.We honestly lost a great officer.Taliban have stuck at the heart of Pakistan Anti Terrorism Command and we should pay back in the same coin.I don't think any police officer can match the caliber and bravery of this officer.We need more officers like him to root out the Taliban and other terrorists operating in Pakistan.
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^^ I hope he can be replaced by someone who is firmer in his resolve to stop the menace ONCE & FORE ALL!!

may Safwat reside in the highest darjaa of Janaat!!! Ameen!
 
I wish we had more people like him-A brave man but above all, a man of character -- a rare breed these days. May Allah rest his soul in peace -- Ameen!
 
People i have spoken to says that once the suicide bombing campaign really started to hit our city Peshawar, during off-duty hours he would take his private car and drive around on his own. He would quietly ask people if they've seen any suspicious behaviour, and he himself would be keeping his eye out for any militants or militant activity.


this shows a great and very brave man who genuinely cared not just for KP but for the whole country


he is truly missed; and in order to best honour him we as nation must finish ''unfinished business''
 
I think Mr. Shafi speak for most of us in this matter:


Silence is not an option By Kamran Shafi
Tuesday, 10 Aug, 2010


Enough is bloody enough! Enough of deafening silence as our people, women, men and children, are mercilessly killed and maimed and widowed and orphaned by cold-blooded murderers and their handlers and motivators.

How many more Safwat Ghayyurs and Mushtaq Baigs and Faisal Alvis and Malik Saads and Abid Alis and Khan Raziqs will have to die before those who are equipped and paid to prevent, or at the very least anticipate attacks such as those that killed these fine men, will begin to do their jobs? Whilst I have started this piece with the mention of officers in the service of Pakistan, I am by no means making light of the deaths of thousands of nameless innocents such as the women and children in Meena Bazaar, Peshawar, or the hungry poor at Data Darbar, Lahore.

It is time that all of us Pakistanis stood up and loudly asked the establishment a raft of hard, even unpalatable to it, questions and demand answers. We must ask why it is that not a single suicide-jacket maker has been apprehended and prosecuted in all the years that these beasts have been going about their ghastly business. We must ask why not even one explosives supplier has been caught and brought before a court of law. We must ask why not one, just one, motivator has been exposed and locked up so that he may not spread his poison any more.

We must ask why not even one facilitator, people who move these mindless creatures with explosives strapped to their bodies from one place to another, has been arrested and put away. Or why even one suicide attack or car bombing has not been prevented by our much-praised ‘agencies’. We must ask why high-profile officers such as young Safwat Ghayyur were not provided such intelligence cover as would have uncovered the surely elaborate plan hatched by the terrorists to get this officer.

We must ask how it was that the man who apparently fit the profile of a suicide bomber almost perfectly: young, hanging about outside a sensitive agency (the Frontier Constabulary headquarters) waiting for his quarry; probably wild-eyed, entered Peshawar cantonment in the first place. I went to Peshawar a few weeks ago and it took my wife and I and our driver a full three minutes of questioning, checking of our ID cards, opening the hood and the dickey of the car, having a soldier peer into the car and so on, before we were let through just one barricade. There were three within the cantonment before we got to where we were going and the procedure was repeated at each one, albeit in abbreviated fashion. So how did that misguided, mindless youth stroll into the secure area to do his dreadful deed?

We must ask too, what is the very first duty of any agency of any state. Surely it is the protection of its own people first and foremost, and as the end result of that the protection of the country as a whole. We must ask if our much-talked-about agencies are succeeding in these primary duties. We must ask if the attacks that have robbed so many of our people of their very lives are the direct result of a massive and ongoing intelligence failure. The frank answer is that the ‘agencies’ have failed and are failing all ends up in doing their primary duty: witness the audacious attacks by terrorists at any target of their choosing anywhere in the country, including that holy of holies, the GHQ. Including, indeed, on installations, and the transport, of the ISI itself.


Which reminds me. There is an email doing the rounds that tells us that our ISI is the best intelligence agency in the whole wide world. The ranking of the world’s intelligence agencies according to this email is as follows: our very own ISI (and more strength to it, I say), Mossad (Israel), MI-6 (UK), the CIA (US), MSS (China), BND (Germany), FSB (Russia), DGSE (France), RAW (India) and ASIS (Australia). Two immediate questions come to mind. If the ISI is really as good as it is made out to be, how come our country is in the state it is in? Second, if RAW is as bad as to be the 9th worst intelligence agency in the world, how come it can pull off actions as diverse as bombing Data Darbar and R.A. Bazaar in Lahore and Lahore cantonment respectively; arming and provisioning Baloch separatists; and attacking our Ahmadi brothers in their mosques in Lahore? Could it be that RAW is not as bad as the list would have us believe, and the ISI not that good?

Jokes aside, however, we must ask the hard questions and also make demands of our agencies, paid as they are from our taxes and revenue. The very first is to say to them to please secure our own country first and then attempt to project Pakistani power across our borders, say in Afghanistan. It is to say, please use all the significant resources at your command — the list referred to also tells us that the ISI has up to 10,0000 (I kid you not) operatives worldwide — to at the very least open the Thal-Parachinar road so that the poor people who live in Parachinar do not have to get to their homes via Kabul, Afghanistan.

May I say please, sirs, sort out the criminal terrorists in your own country before you attempt to broker peace between Karzai and (some of) the Taliban. May I say please, sirs, if you cannot secure your own country how can you possibly have the gall to boss the neighbourhood around? Look inwards, sirs, at the veritable mess this poor country is in and do something about it. Surely you know that the last time the Parachinar road was opened, 10 men and six women were killed and eight men (all of them our Shia brothers and sisters, please note) were taken as hostages. At least find out where these poor hostages are, and have them released. Surely being number one you can do it
.

kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk
 
VIEW: Keeping him alive —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad

The greatest medal that all of us can award Safwat, which would be true to his legacy, is to earnestly carry on the fight against extremism and terrorism. If truly the whole country feels his loss, then let us as a whole country keep him alive in our work against the terrorists

He has been called the “hero cop who died with his boots on”, a brave, fearless police officer who would personally mourn every time a police picket was attacked. Personally picking up the bodies of shaheed police constables, he would vow revenge. Many of them he avenged too. Before him, nobody would bother to go to the house of a police personnel martyred. Safwat would not only go but would also pick up the shaheed’s body himself. It was not surprising that people started calling him the handsome undertaker!

He has been eulogised for being fearless and for taking the Taliban head on. I might be wrong but I think he would have been amused by this description. The Taliban, for him were no worthy enemy. He would call them the “scum of the earth”. He would often tell us that they have only created a hype around themselves of terror and Islam. During his many encounters with them, he would tell us that they did not have the courage to look into his eyes. When he caught the Ustaad-i-Fidayeen, i.e. the person who would train young children to be suicide bombers and fill them with anti-American sentiment, Safwat told him that if he was so convinced about his anti-Americanism and so-called jihad, he should put his money where his mouth was. Safwat made him put on a suicide jacket and told him that he would personally take him to the American Consulate. The b*****d peed in his pants and went down on his knees pleading for his life. This is the truth behind their so-called conviction and ideas. Scum of the earth; ants eating away all that is good and decent in society.

It has been a week to his martyrdom as I write these words. Thousands have poured out their affection for him personally, through articles, letters to the editor and blogs. There is even a Facebook page on him. I am amused because given his computer and internet browsing skills he would have been completely lost, not even capable of finding himself on Facebook! Such was his simplicity in these matters that he was once asked, “Chief! What is your Blackberry number?” Safwat’s answer was, “What is a Blackberry?” His eyes would crinkle up as he laughed at his own “illiteracy” as he would call it.

Safwat was the kind of man that after a successful operation, the chief of army staff (COAS) called to congratulate him and asked him what reward he wanted. Safwat said, “I want my men to become entitled to the medical facilities at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH).” When people would praise him during his lifetime, he would innocently look at them as if wondering what in the world were they carrying on about. For him, this was all in a day’s work. When his loved ones would tell him to be careful or when he would be advised not to charge on ahead, he would tell them this is what my work is. His excellent sense of humour and his strong sense of duty is what made him larger than life. As the CCPO when I would ask him what is going on, he would laugh and say, “By God I do not know. I am just running around.” The day he took over as CCPO, Peshawar was shaken by a blast. Safwat declared to the media, “I am responsible.” To the traders of Peshawar who had put up black banners all over the city blasting the government for its failure to provide them security, Safwat said: “Replace the word government on the banner with my name. I am responsible to provide you security. This is my failure.”

For the past two years, his one thought was how to inflict maximum damage on the terrorists. In all the outpourings of affection, people have called for medals to be awarded to him. The little that I knew him, I have the feeling that he would not have liked to be awarded medals. The greatest medal that all of us can award him, which would be true to his legacy, is to earnestly carry on the fight against extremism and terrorism. If truly the whole country feels his loss, as declared in the numerous blog comments and articles, then let us as a whole country keep him alive in our work against the terrorists. Let us also stop mindlessly saying that this is not our war. It is. It has become so. For if our loved ones are being killed, then how is it not our war?

In addition to carrying on his work, he would have had another wish. Spelling his name correctly! His name was not Sifwat but Safwat. When it was time to name his children, he was adamant that the names should be simple and easily pronounceable. It is a pity that we could not even pronounce what he clearly was, i.e. ‘Safwat’ literally meaning ‘the best of the group’. Rest in Peace, Safi Mama.

The writer is a consultant and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com
 
I signed in through mobile just to post the op-ed Fatman sb posted above. A great man's legacy must live on.
 
When he caught the Ustaad-i-Fidayeen, i.e. the person who would train young children to be suicide bombers and fill them with anti-American sentiment, Safwat told him that if he was so convinced about his anti-Americanism and so-called jihad, he should put his money where his mouth was. Safwat made him put on a suicide jacket and told him that he would personally take him to the American Consulate. The b*****d peed in his pants and went down on his knees pleading for his life. This is the truth behind their so-called conviction and ideas. Scum of the earth; ants eating away all that is good and decent in society.

:rofl::rofl::rofl:


I would not EVER want to have been on his badside.


the militants only understand their own language. We shouldnt be afraid to be RUTHLESS when dealing with them.

Obviously those who are caught alive should be interrogated and as much valuable info should be extracted from them.

For those who carried out their acts and/or were ''killed in action'' I proposed a ''wall of shame'' to be located somewhere --maybe Mardan. All bodies of suicide bombers and their ''ustads'' would be cremated there. Their full names, village name, and description of their crime would be mentioned on a placard. Make it as humiliating as possible.

some people agree with me, some call me out of my mind
 
Goodbye Safi Lala. A cousin remembers FC Commandant Safwat Ghayyur

Memories float by. I think of the last time I spoke to him – morning of 14th July his birthday (he had joked about becoming an old man); the last time I saw him (he had preferred sitting out in the lawn and had sipped Mirinda – there was always a bottle of it hidden away from the children, for him, in the freezer – it’s still there); the time when we collectively teased him about the media interviews he was having to give in his Pushto accented Urdu (“bomb putt gaee”) ; the “humour in uniform” anecdotes he related: a soldier with a particularly large , manly mustache had been reprimanded by him for hiding underneath the jeep during an exercise, ‘ look at the size of your mustache and look at your behaviour’ – ‘Sir my mustache is not bullet proof’ was the reply; the time when he turned back from the main door, took me aside and asked me quietly if everything was okay; the daily early phone call he had made his routine after my father’s passing away.

More than the words or gestures it was the enveloping sense of protection. It extended to everyone from the people who worked with him to family to friends. He had convinced one of his seniors who was reluctant to allocate a budget for sun hats for the traffic policemen by taking him out on the road and making him stand in the sun ‘You couldn’t take ten minutes of it yet you expect my men to stand for hours at a stretch without any protection’.

After the Kissa Khawani operation he was asked what he would like as a reward – he asked for medical entitlement for the men he was leading.

The sense of pain is not just for the loss but for the senselessness of the loss. How dare these sub humans snuff out a life that was a source of strength for so many people. How dare they take away the childishness in his children’s eyes and replace it with bewildered confusion. For everyone whose lives he touched the sense of loss runs deep.

They say that each person evokes a slightly different shade of your spectrum , and that particular shade fades when that person isn’t there anymore. The part I find myself personally grieving for is the role of the little sister. Being addressed as ’Kinoo’ always got me to shift gears, let go of adulthood and have him take care of problems – never quite understood how he managed everything but he did.
‘Let me ask Safi Lala’ was one of the the standard solutions each time life’s trivialities got overwhelming. Now it’s not and the world is a lesser place today.
Good bye Safi lala.

---------- Post added at 09:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 PM ----------

 
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President confers civil awards on independence day

ISLAMABAD, Aug 14 (APP): President Asif Ali Zardari on the occasion of Independence Day (August 14, 2010), has conferred the following Civil Awards on Pakistani citizens and Foreign Nationals for excellence in various fields of activities.

HILAL-I-SHUJA’AT:

5. Mr. Safwat Ghayyur Shaheed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
 
watever u guys do, do not say the suicide bomber a coward .. a man goes to his own death, pulls the button, knowing he'll die and another man riding in his car dieing unconscious, do not claim the suicide guy coward again ..
 
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