Before he was killed in a suicide attack last week, Karachi’s most controversial anti-terror supercop had said he wanted his son to become a policeman too. When the Sindh government announced Rs 50 million for Chaudhry Aslam’s family, they also promised his son a job in the police department.

It might not be an easy job. There had been five attempts on his father’s life. In one of them, his house was blown up with a powerful car bomb.

The complaint lodged by his close aide Inspector Adil names Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah and the group’s spokesman Shahidullah Shahid. The latter reportedly had a quarrel with the CID officer on the phone days before he was killed, and claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for the Mohmand chapter of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said the network was happy to have been linked to the assassination.

The key suspect, Naeemullah, was a madrassa student. His brother had also been trained for a suicide attack, a federal intelligence official said, and was killed by the Taliban when he failed in his mission.

Leaders from across the spectrum, and even the army chief, have praised the brave officer whose team had been instrumental in the arrest of a large number of TTP operatives. But that is not all he was known for.

[quote]He was dubbed “cheera master” and “encounter specialist”[/quote]

Recruited in 1984, Chaudhry Aslam rose to prominence during the 1992 law-enforcement operation in Karachi. He was accused of extra judicial killings, and dubbed “cheera master” and “encounter specialist”.

As sub-inspector Aslam Khan, he was accused of being close to alleged Daud Ibrahim aide Haji Bholoo in the 1990s. After Bholoo’s murder, his critics say he helped his gang, operating from South Africa, kill their rival Shoaib Rummywala inside Karachi Central Jail. Uzair Baloch, the head of the controversial Amn Committee in Karachi’s gang-war hit Lyari area, accused Chaudhry Aslam of the extra-judicial killing of his notorious predecessor Rehman Baloch, also known as Rehman Dacoit, and of siding with his rivals such as Arshad Pappu during the recent failed Lyari Operation. There had been a number of cases pending against Chaudhry Aslam, and he was arrested briefly, but there were no convictions.

Lately, Chaudhry Aslam had focused on counter-terrorism. His performance is indicated by the fact that he had received Rs 110 million in rewards for arresting wanted terrorists. He is credited with the revival of the CID, which then busted 127 groups linked to Taliban, and arrested 11 Al Qaeda operatives and 2,941 terror suspects. Amongst them were Saulat Mirza, who admitted to killing Pakistan State Oil managing director Shahid Hamid, and key al Qaeda leader Abu Hamza.

[quote]His most outstanding achievement was his remarkably high prosecution success rate[/quote]

Chaudhry Aslam’s most outstanding achievement was his remarkably high prosecution rate – seen by some as counter-evidence to the allegations of violating the law. According to the Sindh Home Ministry, CID Karachi has convicted more criminals successfully than any other police department in Sindh. “The prosecution rate with the CID was between 29 and 37%, when the overall successful prosecution rate in Sindh is under 1%,” said Muhammad Imran, a senior prosecutor.

According to Inspector Adil, he “institutionalized” the CID and restored the reputation of the police in Karachi. “When the people of Karachi would sleep, Chaudhry Aslam would be up keeping his adopted hometown safe,” he said.

“Chaudry Aslam was probably one of our best police officers,” said AIG Shahid Hayat. “He was street smart and had boosted the morale of other police officers.”

Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said he was “brave and honest” and “worked and died for Pakistan”.