Seven-member committee to investigate SP Dawar's killing

ISLAMABAD: A seven-member joint investigation team was formed on Friday to investigate the abduction and martyrdom of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police superintendent Tahir Khan Dawar earlier this week.

SP Tahir Dawar, who went missing from Islamabad on October 26, was found dead in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province earlier this week. He was laid to rest in Peshawar late Thursday after Afghan officials handed over his mortal remains to a Pakistani delegation at the Torkham border.

According to a notification from the office of the Chief Commissioner Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) here today, the Superintendent of Police Investigation in Islamabad will head the committee.

The committee will also include the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) at Islamabad's Shalimar Circle, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) from the Crime Investigation Department, one representative each from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI), and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the investigating officer of the case.

The JIT has been formed under Section 19 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.

"The Joint Investigation Team shall conplete investigation within the stipulated time perion as laid down in the ATA 1997," read the notification.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered an immediate inquiry into "the shocking tragedy".

"[I] have followed the shocking tragedy of the murder of SP Tahir Khan Dawar and ordered KP govt to coordinate with Islamabad police in holding an inquiry immediately,” the prime minister said on Thursday.

"Minister of State for Interior Shahryar Afridi has been tasked to oversee it with an urgency and present the report to me," he added.

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor has condemned the brutal murder, and said the abduction, killing, and behaviour by Afghan authorities "raised questions which indicated the involvement or resources more than that of a terrorist organisation in Afghanistan".

Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi has vowed to put the culprits behind the killing to justice, and to bring the case to "its logical conclusion".

"Some people want to destabilise Pakistan," he said on the floor of the Senate on Thursday.

"We will make an example out of those responsible for SP Dawar's murder and will make sure the case reaches its logical conclusion whether it is in Pakistan or Afghanistan," he said.