BY

Bakar (real name protected) is a 30 year old, very unassuming, short in height, punctual in his prayers and at his job, hard-working person. He is an operator of a fusing machine in an apparel factory in SITE. He has been on the company payroll since 1983, when he joined it as a helper. The company’s brand is well-known all over Pakistan and it is people like Bakar who labor assiduously and deftly to produce quality garments. He works for nearly 10 hours everyday and earns 2000-2300 per month depending on his overtime and other considerations.

Bashar (not his real name) is in his early twenties and works on a lathe machine near the Hockey Stadium. He too works nearly ten hours and earns around Rs 3000 per month. He is Bakar’s younger brother. The family has been residing in Sector 11 1/2 in Orangi since the last 18-19 months. Previously they lived for over 8 years in Sector 11 in the Rahim Shah Colony. Both the brothers are more concerned in earning the daily bread and they tend to keep away from political activities. They are Urdu-speaking, they are from lower-middle class strata, and they are living in Orangi. All three very dangerous credentials nowadays, and hence these brothers were sitting ducks waiting to be picked up by the "law-enforcing agencies".

So it happened. On the morning of November 26, at around 1 a.m., a contingent of 10 -12 policemen scaled the walls and barged into the bedroom where the family members were peacefully slumbering after a hard day’s work. The two brothers were grabbed in a crude way and shoved into a police van. The ordeal commenced. For nearly three hours, the two brothers were given a rough ride in the van. They were beaten mercilessly with belts and fists. The tormentors jumped up and down on the legs of the two men, laughing sadistically on their pleas for mercy.. After arduous and unbearable three hours, the two were brought to the Gulshan-e-Bihar police station in Orangi and handed over to the SHO, Malik Safdar.

The SHO did not use force or brutality on the two brothers. In fact, except for Bashar, who was also subjected to a jolt of electric shock thru a contraption carried by the PA of the SHO, because he was not sitting properly, and a couple of slaps on the face of both of them, there were no more beatings or punching. The boys were given a roti and some lentils for lunch on the first day and were provided nourishment twice on the second day. That was all they could eat while in police custody. The policemen had taken away all cash and even Bakar’s ring.

The family members rushed to the Police Station in the morning to try to get the two boys out. As usual, the negotiations began and the police, in true extortionist style, demanded a princely sum of Rs 50,000 for the release of the brothers. Naturally, this amount was out of the reach of the family. Gradually, the figure came to Rs 25,000 with a warning that if the amount was not paid immediately, the two would be booked under Section 302, and also for possession of unlicensed arms. Luckily the family knew a police officer who agreed to be the go-between and finally the deal was struck for Rs 15,000 in cold cash. The amount was collected from here and there, and the two were handed over to the family.

The family brought the two tired, haggard, and scared boys to their home and thanked the Almighty for this bounty and deliverance from the ordeal. However, the fear of being caught again and going thru the same torture is still on their minds. They are afraid to move around, but they have resigned themselves to the fact that they have no other choice but to face such future tribulations. In the meantime, they have to go to work and earn money to survive in this inflation-plagued world.

What was their crime ? The police were looking for a MQM activist by the name of Tariq, who was once a resident of Sector 11 where the boys previously had their home. Tariq became active after the Operation Clean-up and recently has gone underground. Since the two were living in that neighborhood, and that too about a year and a half ago, they would know where the fugitive was and thus they were hauled in. In the same Rahim Shah Colony, a person from Punjab who was married to a Bengali lady , was killed alongwith his son by somebody named Zafru, who too was later shot dead in an "encounter". The two sons of the deceased vowed revenge from the residents of the Colony. They took shelter in the police station and became the proverbial "informers". One by one, the male members of the Colony were and are being picked up. The two sons are part of the police posse that raids the houses and arrests the male residents. The two brazenly wield Kalashiknovs and obviously share the extortion money that the people pay for their release. This is like a scene from the Wild West of yore days.

Bakar and Bashar were victims of this conspiracy. Who knows how many other innocent people got trapped due to this avarice in the name of blind revenge. The families are perturbed and are spending sleepless nights while desperadoes roam around under official protection. DIG Shoaib Suddle asserts that these cases are just a figment of somebody’s imagination and that there is no police brutality, nor there are any such so-called arrests. Only those who are criminals are being nabbed. But does he know what the truth is ?

Who is safe now ? The rich who have influence and who can pull the strings or call up some VIP to get themselves out of any imbroglio ? Sure, but what about those who are not able to cultivate influence ? The employers of those who have been arrested falsely have been advised not to use influence on their behalf because if the nabbing authority see that they may not get their pound of flesh, they may be inclined to impose certain Sections of the law and thus put those arrested in perpetual purgatory.

Journalists and press photographers get beaten up and busted on a daily basis. Mujib, the affable President of Pakistan Press Photographers Association got himself in a jam while performing his duties. He got beaten black and blue. Asghar Bhatti. photographer of Quomi Akhbar, was another victim to this brutal display of power. Businessmen and company executives have faced the brunt but have kept quiet. They have resigned themselves to the fact that this is the price one has to pay to live in this tormented city.

Nevertheless, there is this case of Bakar and Bashar. There are thousands of Bakars and Bashars all around Karachi who are picked up, beaten up, and who have paid up, all because they still desire to live and struggle, inspite of the tortuous calamity that befell them. Their only fault was that they are innocent victims of the macabre game being played with the lives of 12 million people who call themselves Karachiites.

As the song goes : "There’s got to be a morning after

It’s just waiting outside the storm . . . . . "