It was 2007 that Syed Waquar Raza was selected in the Indian Police Service and allotted West Bengal cadre. All was going well for him till the training ended two years later and he was inducted into the service as SDPO, Jhargram. It was a naxalites-infested area. His colleagues, seniors and family members were afraid for his safety. Everything went smoothly for first 15 days and Mr Raza was lulled into complacency. “Everybody was scared for no reason”, he thought. But, on 15th day, he was jolted out of his reverie – a police station under his jurisdiction had been run over by armed naxalites who had also looted a nearby bank as well. That was a rude welcome he received into the service, he told Indian Masterminds in an exclusive video interview.
Kindly click on the link to watch his full interview…
This incident was only the starter. The main course was served 10 days later when Rajdhani Express train was hijacked by the naxalites. Mr Raza was asked to combat the hijackers. “There was no GPS in those days. The area was thickly wooded. We didn’t have any clue of the train’s location,” he says. Kindly watch the interview to find out how his life came under grave danger while defusing a landmine while his companions got hit by naxalites’ bullets.
Sixteen years later, Mr Raza, now as a DIG, again received injuries – this time not at the hand of armed naxalites but at the hands of common citizens who had lost their bearings in Murshidabad during a fierce communal riot. “I might have been promoted but as a senior officer I was expected to lead my contingent to bring the situation under control,” he said.
It was here that he received some injuries. Undeterred, he instilled sanity among the affected people and brought peace to the area under a virtual inferno for some time. He also describes the formula to bring peace in such troubled areas.
Mr Raza has written a book – “Internal Security and Disaster Management” – for UPSC aspirants. The book published first in 2021, has come up with its second and updated edition which has been widely praised for its lucidity and clarity. In the interview, Mr Raza describes how he managed time to write the tome. The book can be bought by clicking the following link…
