Adil Najam

Just saw a shocking and sad news report that suggests that an official government car, reportedly in the use of the Syed Safwanullah, Federal Minister of Housing and Works, reportedly being driven by one of his relatives, crushed to death a 6-year old child, whose mutilated body was found two days later in the same car.

The misbahavior of those in power has been something we have written about before as we did with the antics of our Law Minister (also here). We have sometimes been surprised that those in power actually read this blog and sometimes respond (as the MQM MNA from Karachi did on the ATP post about him). We are not sure if we will hear from Minister sahib (also affiliated with MQM) this time, but we will certainly be keeping watch on developments.


To be fair, let me say that the facts reported in this item are still unclear enough that one cannot be fully sure of where the blame lies. But it is also fair that the facts as laid out in by The News are disturbing enough that we must not ignore them and must demand more clarity and information from the Minister as well as the police.

The statements from the police suggest that they may actually conduct an open and fair enquiry. That things are still shrouded in mystery two days after the event, however, does not bode well. Having praised Islamabad police recently, I certainly hope they do not disappoint.

Here are the details from The News story:

Mystery shrouds the death of a six-year-old boy, who was crushed by a federal minister’s official limousine allegedly driven by a woman relative of the VIP, even two days after the occurrence. Both the police and parents of the child have no clue about the person in the driving seat. Reportedly, the woman driving the vehicle which hit the boy, stopped before putting him in the Land Cruiser and speeding away. On Wednesday, the mutilated and decomposed body of the boy was found by the police in the same Land Cruiser bearing green registration plate (of Government of Pakistan) – GP-2087 – at G-8 Markaz.

When contacted, Federal Minister for Housing and Works Syed Safwanullah said the Land Cruiser was not a full-time staff vehicle allocated to him. “It was rarely used by me and my family,” he said.

The FIR lodged with the Margalla police station confirmed the child – Izzatullah, an Afghan national – was crushed to death by a woman driver. But the complaint lodged by the minister’s aide with another police station — the Secretariat — of the federal capital, relates a different story. Lodged on November 29, the minister’s aide claims the official Land Cruiser along with the driver was missing since November 28 when the accident actually occurred. The Land Cruiser and the body were found exactly four hours after the report of the minister’s aide.

The shocking incident took place on the main road of the capital’s G-9/4 sector near ‘Tuesday Bazaar’ where hundreds of people witnessed a minor boy being crushed by a Land Cruiser driven by a woman, who then put the wounded boy in her vehicle and sped away, Habibullah, grandfather of the victim, claimed while talking to this correspondent after receiving the body from the PIMS hospital.

Meanwhile, Habibullah, resident of 178, street 93, G-9/4, Islamabad lodged a complaint with the Margalla police station saying, “On Tuesday November 28 at about 4pm, a Land Cruiser bearing registration number GP-2087 hit my grandson — Izzatullah, 6, son of Hadayatullah near Peshawar Mor and sped away after putting him in the vehicle”. He said in his written complaint that his family friend found the Land Cruiser parked on the double road near G-8 Markaz. Quoting his three sons who were accompanying the deceased, he confirmed a woman was driving the Land Cruiser.

Conversely, staff of the minister’s house lodged a complaint with the Secretariat police station through a supervisor of Pak PWD, claiming that the Land Cruiser and driver were both missing since last Tuesday when the accident occurred. Muhammad Afzal, Supervisor Pak PWD workshop I-11, submitted a written application saying the Land Cruiser bearing registration number GP-2087 was in the use of federal minister for housing and works, Syed Safwanullah.

He said, “On November 29, Jafar Hussain (claiming to be a son and unofficial PSO of the minister), summoned him at the minister’s house (6, Minister’s Enclave) and directed me to file a complaint with the concerned police station that the Land Cruiser along with the driver — Tariq Mehmood — is missing since November 28”. The police registered the report (number 31 dated 29-11-2006) at 8.30pm. Syed Safwanullah while talking to this correspondent denied any woman was driving the Land Cruiser and said his driver was heading to the workshop when the incident took place.

Police insiders aver that a daughter or close relative of the minister was driving the vehicle even as the minister claimed: “There is no woman in my house.” Hidayatullah, father of the victim, said while talking to The News that his son was going to ‘Tuesday Bazaar’ along with his cousins, less than 10 years of age, when the Land Cruiser trampled him. He was sure that a woman was driving the green numbered vehicle.

SSP Islamabad Sikandar Hayat told The News that law was equal for all. He said the police would apprehend Tariq Mehmood, the driver of the vehicle and then inquire about the claim of aggrieved party that a woman was driving the vehicle. “The case will be dealt with according to the law,” he claimed. The victim was student of class-III at a local school, Habibullah, grandfather of the victim said. He said they were Afghans belonging to a poor family.

The hospital sources, quoting the external autopsy report disclosed that the minor had not died on the spot but expired after about 12 hours of the accident and they kept the body for more than 20 hours. The police, however, have registered the case against ‘unknown’ driver under Section 322/201/279 PPC and started investigation.

The story speaks for itself, which is why I have quoted it in full here. I will be keeping an eye out for more details on this. Readers, if you read or hear anything do please share. Vigilance and a demand for information is all that we can do, but let us never be negligent in doing either; because our silence would not just be complacency, it will be complicity.

Adil Najam

With Yusuf breaking two important records – highest number of centuries and highest runs in a calendar year – one feels good. Not only for Yusuf, but also because the news from teh cricket field is good; and is about cricket!

Inspired by Yusuf’s feat and by Khalid R. Hasan naming his Pakistan Dream Teams, I thought I should throw into the mix this video of what might be the greatest – or at least one of the greatest – moments in Pakistan’s cricket history. Miandad hitting a sixer off the very last ball (from Cheetan Sharma) to clinch the final of the Sharjah Cup from India, on April 18, 1986.

I just came across this very interesting essay by author Kamila Shamsie in Prospect, where she writes about “one match against India made us think that we Pakistanis were capable of anything.” It makes for compelling reading.

But before I quote from the essay, here is some compelling viewing. A video clip of that fateful – some would say historic – last over (the quality is so-so and who-ever put that promo right over the running score scroll deserves banishment).

Adil Najam

Sepoy, of Chapati Mystery fame, sent me this picture before. It is a crude sheyr (verse) crudely written at the back of a bus.

Girls these days are so proud of their beauty
They don’t know the first kalma, but speak in English

Sepoy said it made him chuckle. It makes me chuckle too. But it also makes me shudder a bit. And not just for the (lack of) poetic skills displayed here. The verse and its display probably says more about the way we view women – especially young women – than it does about the state of poetry in the country.




Notwithstanding the fact that not just rhyme but reason is also missing here and the first and second misras have little connection, the verse does suggest what is viewed good (knowing the pehla kalma) and what is not (speaking in English).

All too often people will presume that a certain behavior correlates to certain moral positions. I remember how we wrote on ATP about an Ad in Dawn’s classified section for

an executive secretary for (a) the MD of a large educational network, who is (b) female with cute personality (c) willing to work on “anything & everything” (d) for “long hours”, and (e) “be able to keep MD pleased and relaxed.”

Thinking about the ad and all the societal assumptions imbedded in it still makes me mad. As did this interesting post from ATP friend Mansoor on Metroblog Karachi, where he writes about a new way of stealing cellphones that as practiced in Karachi.

A girl is standing at a bus stop, waiting to catch a bus to go home and talking on her cellphone. There are quite many people around and its daytime.

Two guys on a bike pull up in front of her, the guy on the back gets off the bike, comes in front of her, and without warning, plants a loud slap right on her face! The girl is stunned, cant even utter a word. He then shouts (for the benefit of whoever is listening) “kitney dafa bola hai! Abba ka cellphone nahi lay kar nikla karo” (how many times have i told you, not to take dads cellphone out), grabs her cell, gets back on the bike, and they both drive away.

The girl is too shocked to say anything and just stands there, her hand holding an imaginary cellphone to her ear. People around ignore the situation thinking its just some family tiff or the other…. till she screams out “ye mera bhai nahi tha!!!!!!!” (he was not my brother!!!!!)

What I found notable is that even though the post generated intense discussion it was mostly focused on crime prevention and law enforcement and very little about what – to me – was the most shocking line of all:

People around ignore the situtation thinking its just some family tiff or the other…

Wait, wait, wait. Please. It is OK if someone comes and slap their sister or wife or daughter in public? Or even in private? And the rest of us will say, ‘OK, its a family tiff.’

I must confess that I am shocked most because in my heart of heart I know that many people will, in fact, do exactly that. And, that, is the tragedy of it all.