Additional SP Nasir Ahmed received his second President’s medal for gallantry on 15 August. Colleagues hail him for his dedication and bravery.
New Delhi: All Nasir Ahmed wanted to do when he donned the khaki was “look militants in the eye and take them on” to protect his family and country.
Currently posted as additional superintendent of police (ASP) in Kathua, Nasir received a rare honour Wednesday when he was awarded his second President’s medal for gallantry.
The job is personal for Nasir, the son of the first senior police officer killed in the Valley during the militancy’s darkest days in the early 1990s.
He was a Class XII student in Jammu when his father, SP Nazir Ahmed, was shot dead on 21 October, 1992, while on his way to meet his daughter, then a medical student in Srinagar. Nazir Ahmed was posted with secretariat security in Srinagar at the time.
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The pain of Nazir’s death is still raw for Nasir, who said he lost “not just my father but my best friend”.
“I was left with the responsibility of three sisters. My father was my best friend. It was a loss that I am still unable to accept,” he said.
As the son of a slain policeman, Nasir said, he was offered a job in either police or the revenue department. “I opted for the police department,” he added, “I wanted to find the killers of my father for they were also a threat to my nation.”
A native of Rajouri district in Jammu, Nasir is today a respected policeman among colleagues “for his conviction and drive in performing his duty in the most challenging of situations”.
“The journey of Nasir has been outstanding. His fight against militancy as a policeman has been unique,” his childhood friend Vishesh Paul Mahajan, who serves as the officer on special duty with the Speaker of the J&K assembly, told ThePrint.
Senior police officers hail Nasir for his dedication and bravery, and say the latest medal will “most certainly not be the last”.
‘Gracious mentors’
He first received the President’s police medal for gallantry in 2001, for leading a four-member team in an operation at Gurah Kalyal, Kathua, in which four militants were killed.
In fact, stories of his bravery, with a touch of recklessness, are now part of police lore.
“A few years ago, when militants attacked a police station in Kathua district, Nasir barged into the police station with his men,” said a retired senior police officer who was once Nasir’s supervisor. “But for that courageous counter-attack, the toll – three police personnel had already been killed by the militants – might have been higher.”
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Nasir also received the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DGP’s commendation disc in 2001. The other honours received over the years include the J&K DGP’s commendation medal, the Sher-i-Kashmir police medal for gallantry in 2003.
Nasir credited his career successes to gracious mentors. “I am doing my job just like all the other members of the force. My seniors have always guided me since many of them feel I am part of their family,” he said.
At a time when policemen in the state once again find themselves the focus of targeted attacks, Nasir said every time a policeman was killed, it reminded him of his father.
“It is unfortunate that our boys are being lost… When we are in this, we know we can lose our lives. With the passage of time, a lot of things can be taken care of but human lives cannot be brought back. It is heart-breaking for me to see policemen killed,” Nasir added.