Punjab ex-DGP Izhar Alam, hailed as hero by ex-top cops, hated by radical Sikh bodies, dies

Former Director General of Punjab Police Mohammad Izhar Alam passed away due to cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning. He was 72. He is survived by wife Farzana Alam alias Nisara F Khatoon, a former Akali Dal MLA, three sons and two daughters.

Alam’s personal security officer (PSO) said the former DGP suffered a heart attack at his Chandigarh house early in morning and was rushed to a private hospital in Mohali. The PSO said the hospital declared Alam dead at around 8:30 am.

Alam, a 1974-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, retired in 2009. In January 2010, he was appointed as chairman of Punjab Waqf Board by the erstwhile Akali Dal-led government in the state. Alam, who had joined Akali Dal after retirement, was named party candidate from Malerkotla in 2012 elections. But faced with criticism over his alleged ways of targeting Sikh youth in the era of militancy, the party eventually dropped him and fielded his wife Farzana. Farzana defeated Congress’s andidate Razia Sultana, wife of 1985-batch IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa who retired in February this year, in 2012 Assembly polls. The election was primarily a proxy contest between Alam and Mustafa. Sultana, who won from Malerkotla in 2017, is currently a minister in Punjab government.

Alam was alleged to have created “Alam Sena”, a set of informers to counter terrorism, which did not have any legal backing and was subject to sharp criticism from radical Sikh organizations and human rights activists for alleged violations and atrocities. In June 2016, a mob attacked his house, following an incident of desecration of Quran in Malerkotla when his wife was MLA from there.

Former Punjab DGP Julio Francis Ribeiro condoled the demise of Alam and told The Indian Express over phone that “He was a very good officer”.

Retired DGP and 1970-batch Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Sarabdeep Singh Virk, who also served as Punjab DGP, was also all praise for Alam for his “remarkable job to counter terrorism in Punjab”.

“His sudden death is very shocking. He was the finest of the officers. He did a remarkable job and played an important role to counter terrorism in Punjab,” Virk told over phone.

On allegations of raising “Alam Sena”, Virk said, “All this is exaggeration. He (Alam) put up a spirited fight against terrorism in Punjab. There are no hard and fast rules to fight militancy. It was for the first time that Punjab was in grip of militancy. Our response was to marginalize and neutralize militants…There are no lines drawn in [countering] militancy. You have to fight back. Militancy cannot be wished away.”

Alam, who hailed from Bihar, was awarded Padam Shri in 1987. Virk told that Alam succeeded him as Jalandhar SSP in 1985 and as Amritsar SSP in 1986.

On deputation subsequently, Alam also served as DIG in Srinagar with Jammu and Kashmir police and DIG CRPF in Delhi before returning back to Punjab.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh said, “It is unfortunate that the tyrant cop, who was the killer of Sikhs went unpunished. He created Alam Sena, a team of renegades who committed heinous crimes to give a bad name to the movement at that time.”