Who was SP Chaudhary Aslam — the slain Pakistan cop — and why is his widow upset with the makers of ‘Dhurandhar’?

One of the key figures referenced in Aditya Dhar’s ‘Dhurandhar’ is Karachi’s slain police officer, SP Chaudhary Aslam Khan — portrayed by Sanjay Dutt in the spy action thriller. Khan was serving as the SSP of Karachi’s anti-terror unit when he was killed in a suicide bombing in 2014.

Aslam’s widow, Noreen, has spoken about how her husband was portrayed in the Ranveer Singh-starrer' Dhurandhar’, where Sanjay Dutt plays the character based on her late husband.

Noreen, who appeared on a podcast by Dialogue Pakistan, said that her husband has been a fan of Sanjay Dutt's since he watched ‘Khalnayak’ in the 1990s. But she had a complaint – “the trailer of the film has a character describe Aslam as the offspring of the devil and a djinn.”

“We are Muslims, and such words are disrespectful not only to Aslam but his mother, who was a simple, honest woman. If I see my husband being portrayed wrongly or any propaganda against him in the film, I will definitely take all the legal steps I can.”

Who was Chaudhary Aslam?

A Pathan from the Mansehra district, SP Chaudhary Aslam, was born as Muhammad Aslam Khan in 1963 in Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He joined the Sindh police in the 1980s and first shot to limelight during his posting as SHO of Gulbahar Police Station in Karachi.

Twenty years later, he went on to lead the Lyari Task Force in the government’s crackdown on the gangs in the Karachi in the 2000s.

SP Chaudhary Aslam is credited with eliminating several major gangsters from the region. After surviving an attack from the Taliban in 2011, he was assassinated in 2014 by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Taliban’s Pakistani faction.

Chaudhary Aslam Khan served as SSP of Karachi’s anti-terror unit when he was killed in a suicide bombing in 2014.

Dutt plays SP Chaudhary Aslam in 'Dhurandhar', a film loosely based on Operation Lyari and the Indian intelligence’s role in dismantling the terror network there.

The India-Pakistan Link

SP Chaudhary Aslam later became Pakistan’s most well-known encounter specialist, and his work often overlapped with the larger intelligence rivalry between India and Pakistan.

SP Chaudhary Aslam mainly worked on policing and operations given by Pakistan. However, some of the individuals he pursued later became part of the broader intelligence and espionage narrative that had an impact on India–Pakistan relations.

SP Chaudhary Aslam, according to many reports, had a role in the arrest of Saulat Mirza, an Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker convicted of killing a senior Pakistani bureaucrat. Before his execution in 2015, Mirza claimed in a recorded statement that MQM members had received help from India’s intelligence agency, RAW. India had strongly denied the claim.

SP Chaudhary Aslam was also said to be involved in operations against Uzair Baloch, a major figure in Karachi’s underworld. In April 2012, SP Chaudhary Aslam led a 12-day police operation in Lyari targeting criminal groups then associated with Uzair Baloch, who was later arrested in 2016, after Khan’s death. Pakistan later accused Baloch of allegedly passing information to foreign intelligence agencies.

Officials have also claimed that Baloch had links to networks connected to Indian national and naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who remains in Pakistani custody. India has categorically denied these allegations.

All about Dhurandhar

Aditya Dhar’s ‘Dhurandhar’ stars Ranveer as an Indian spy in Lyari, and also features Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, and R Madhavan in lead roles. The film received mixed reviews and earned ₹99 crore net in India in its opening weekend.

Ranveer Singh plays the complex role of Hamza Ali Mazari, an undercover operative in Pakistan's Lyari underworld, whose real identity is Jaskirat Singh Rangi, a former Indian Army officer seeking revenge and justice, a character inspired by real-life covert operations like that of Major Mohit Sharma.