A Punjab Police Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector, Raja Saqlain, and his nephew were shot dead by unidentified terrorists near Aamir Market in Rawalpindi on Saturday, police said. Inspector Saqlain, SHO of Westridge Police Station in Rawalpindi, and Altaf were coming out of their house in Afshaan Colony, Rawalpindi, when two terrorists riding a motorcycle opened fire on them. They died in District Headquarters Hospital, Rawalpindi. Mr Saqlain, who had arrested important members of terrorist organisations, has nabbed including Al Qaeda operational chief Khalid Sheikh Muhammad in 2003. City police placed barricades in several places in an attempt to catch the killers but to no avail.
Police sources said Mr Saqlain was on the hit lists of various terrorist organisations and had received several threatening calls. More than 10 police officials were usually deployed with him for security. He had busted several terrorist outfits and investigated several cases involving terrorist and sectarian violence. Police officers said the SHO had clamped down on culprits involved in the murder of five Iranian cadets in Rawalpindi in 1997. The accused in that case were active members of the defunct religious organisation Sipah-e-Sahaba. They said Mr Saqlain had also apprehended several terrorists involved in the diplomatic enclave church bombings in which six people, including three US diplomats, died. He also clamped down on those involved in the bombing of a hospital in Taxila and a missionary school in Murree. All the accused have been convicted and sentenced to death. Mr Saqlain brought acclaim to the Rawalpindi Police because of his performance, said Syed Murvat Ali Shah, district police officer of Rawalpindi, while talking to Daily Times. The SHO's funeral was held at Police Lines before his body was sent to his ancestral village for burial. A number of important people including District Nazim Tariq Kiyani and senior police officials attended the funeral. |