As I was reading the sad story on ATP about an official government car, reportedly in the use of the Syed Safwanullah, Federal Minister of Housing and Works, crushing to death a 6-year old child, another incident which is even more tragic occured in Lahore and surprisingly got very little media attention initially.
According to Daily Times:
The case dates back to November 26, when Waseem Sajjad Malik, a cellular phone-company employee (resident of 292/293-B, Punjab Corporative Society), lost control of his car and hit a tree allegedly because of two racing cars near
Masjid Chowk in Defence. One of the two cars (LWJ-700) belonged to Faisal Farooq, son of a prominent confectioner. Waseem’s two-month old baby, born five years after his marriage, went through the screen and fell about 20 feet away. Waseem, his mother and his wife were injured. Waseem’s baby went into a comma right away. Passers-by caught Faisal Farooq, who fled when he saw that they were calling the police. The victims were admitted to hospital with multiple fractures and the baby died shortly after that. Defence police registered a case against Faisal Farooq.
Faisal Farooq’s family, close to senior police officers, intervened. Allegedly, Faisal Farooq, his uncles Mehmood and Maqsud, and five people carrying weapons went to the National Defence Hospital on November 29, where they threatened Waseem’s brother-in-law Mutahir and asked him to withdraw the case. They locked Mutahir in a room, allegedly, beat him up, and fled. Senior policemen then directed the Defence ASP to make sure another case was not registered, but another group of police officers also intervened and got a case registered.
A large number of people have received SMS messages on their mobile phones asking them to boycott the products of the confectionary chain owned by Faisal’s father. “Faisal Farooq, son of [the owner of a confectionary] hit a car while racing, killing a baby and injuring a family,� the message read. “Faisal and a squad of gunmen then threatened the family,� it says, “that if a case was registered, he would kill the rest of the family.� The SMS requested the readers to boycott the confectionary responding to the demand of “the soul of an innocent infant and the tears of his parents�.
Officials of the cellular phone company in which Wasim worked denied that they were involved in circulating the SMS. “How can we stop people from sending messages to each other on the subject?� the public relations manager said. People were free to SMS anybody they wanted, he said, and the company had not initiated the campaign. Police spokesman declined to speak on the issue and the CPC was not available for comment.
The confectionary, of course, is teh famous Nirala Sweet House.
I am not sure what to say about this. Incidents like this happen every now and then and only just a few become known to us. Waseem and his family have now got media attention 
and I am sure they have full support form Mobilink which will help them in a painfully slow, complicated and costly legal battle ahead. But in most cases, unfortunately, rich and powerful easily get away with murder and this happens everywhere.
The most unfortunate part of this story is that the baby is dead. Whatever we say or do now is useless in a way and nobody can bring him/her back. It also makes me wonder whats the logic of blessing someone a child after so many years and then take away in split second? Only Allah knows the best. We can only offer our prayers to the victim’s family.
Lets hope that all of us in Lahore will keep the pressure on, even if it means Boycotting Nirala. Lets exercise our basic right to protest against injustice which we have long forgotten as a nation. I know most of us feel powerless to prevent injustice but lets not fail to protest atleast. Myself (on Lahore Metroblog) and other bloggers have already taken up the issue (here, here, here, here and here; alternative viewpoint here) and the press is also begining to take notice (here, here and here).
Please call or email your friends and family in Pakistan – in Lahore, in Karachi – and ask them not to buy at or accept gifts from Nirala. I do not know if this will make a difference. But at least we would not have sat and done nothing. And who knows, maybe if enough of us boycott Nirala it will hurt these people where it hurts them most; in their wallets.
Darwaish blogs on his own blog la vie en rose and also contributes to Metroblog Lahore, where this post first appeared.
Im not sure what happened in Faisals case but In Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, the children of rich and famous Pakistanis think their fathers own the roads. They drive their fancy cars, sometimes with their gun totting guards following them in close suit with total disregard for the law…
I know of young boys who have had accidents, killed people and have not spent a single night in jail. Ofcourse, our society does not shun them, nor condemn their actions…The movers and shakers of Pakistan run this country and their children know it!
I couldn’t agree more with those who are willing to learn something out of this whole media awareness campaign (its only one of the many incidents which happen in Pakistan). I am a little surprised that it is receiving so much attention, probably because we love to talk about the negative aspects of our society but are unwilling to take any action, which could actually make a positive impact. I condemn any act of reckless behaviour which would endanger another human being’s life but in this particular story, we have all emotional versions but no actual facts to report and it seems unjust to pass a fatwa based on hearsay. By promoting this we are actually doing another injustice to our society. How abt. if all these well-wishing Pakistanis with conscience take up the simple case of making car seat belts mandatory on all cars and help make it law. To me it seems utterly stupid and irresponsible that car manufacturers in Pakistan look at seat belts as a value-add and only offer it if you are willing to pay extra.
[quote comment=”15005″]THE ACCIDENT:
Please read the attached news in “The Nationâ€
Thanks, I don’t know why are you hiding yourself but thanks for explaining it further. I also got SMS like others. I mentioned mobilink on my blog and some mobilink guy got mad enough that he left the comment that he could *kill* me for mentioning “Mobilink” in post =). So I do think there is some personal issue against that person by his department people. Another example of media abuse.
THE ACCIDENT:
There was only one car. The theory that there were two cars racing each other is an outright lie. It is fabricated to project that Faisal was driving very fast and hides the fact that Waseem, whose child died, made a negligent u-turn without regard for on coming car. Faisal had the right of way. We are all aware of the way our traffic works. People are sneaking into lanes and crossing with a sense of complacency, completely inattentive to traffic around them and without regard for right of way. Driving without attention and regard for others on the road is just as dangerous as driving fast.
Waseem, his wife were discharged after 2 days and the mother was not even harmed. There is speculation about whether the window of the car was open allowing their 2 month child to fall out and tragically die. The child’s parents assert that the child flew out of the mothers’ arms and hit the back screen, there by breaking it and then falling 20 feet away from the car. However it is not likely that an 8-10 pound baby could burst through the wind screen of a car and land 20 feet away. There was news of the Mother having fractured her back bone, yet in truth she was not even admitted to the hospital.
As for claims that Faisal was drunk, they are ridiculous. Anybody who knows Faisal and his Family knows that he doesn’t drink or even smoke, and is considered a very even-tempered person. Most of the central facts of the case have been completely fabricated by the Waseem’s family, his friends at work (Mobilink) and the Media.
INCIDENT AT DEFENSE NATIONAL HOSPITAL:
Faisal visited Waseem’s family at the hospital with his aged father who is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and his uncles to sympathize and try to reconcile. Once again anyone who knows Faisal and his family would outright reject the proposition that Faisal was involved in abusing or threatening Waseem’s family and would take his ailing father to a fight.
Faisal was prepared to face a very angry family since their loss is great. But Waseem’s brother in law, Mutahir asserted that Faisal could not leave and that his family could return without him. At this point Faisal’s uncles intervened and pulled out Faisal from the hospital room where he was alone with the grieving family. The hospital administration and duty staff confirm that Faisal or his family did not inflict any harm to Waseem’s family. Please read the attached news in “The Nationâ€