A story worth mentioning…

….and as I was walking down the road, the bus dropped me off on Boat Basin. On my way to the office around 10:30 Tuesday night, a police mobile stopped by. A policeman approached me from the back of the vehicle and asked for my ID card then performed a check on me… I was having a bag containing some books and a shawl to keep myself warm during the late night shift. The gentleman from the police vehicle, upon failure to discover anything suspicious from my belongings, asked me what am I doing at this time of the night. I told him that I was on my way to my office, he replied what sort of office starts at 10:30 in the night. I tried to explain him that it was my night shift and I work in the networking department. By the looks of the gentleman I highly doubt I could have made anything clear to him. He then asked me If I have the company ID card, unfortunately I did not have it with me, although I did have the visiting card. Once I handed over it to him, he got all fuming and shove the card at my face after tearing it into pieces. He then said I want the company ID card with your picture and your boss’s signature on it. I humbly told him that it wasn’t ready yet. He then asked me for how long I was working in the company, he again got annoyed, as my answer was ‘one year’… His colleague form the mobile came and said ’sahab bula rahay hein’. The gentleman than said, okay… “kuch khanay peenay ka karo”, I took out my wallet to gave him all that I have. May be it was a bad day for me, I only had 20 Rupees in my wallet. Once I gave it to him, it was like I slapped him and then spitted on the face, he said “bhikaari hein kiya hum log” and grabbed everything I was carrying and asked me to get into the mobile and the rest would be taken care of in the police station. I thought there is nothing left to do now but to get into the mobile, they took all my belongings and switched off my phone.

In the station for almost 30 minutes no one spoke to me and I also stayed shut and put. I was thinking even one word could go against me and I can stay here forever. After a few minutes the SHO on his desk picked up my phone and starts to browse though, I didn’t know what he was doing, but then he whispered something to his assistant and gave the phone to me saying “call who ever you want to call”, once I got the phone I noticed that the number of PCIA was open. I called a “high profile” contact of mine and handed over the phone to the SHO, he suddenly starts abusing the person on the phone and threw it on the table… He than said to me that he is going to put a case on me that I have been involved in suicide bombing activity and we have discovered two pistols and some ball bearing making material from me. Man I was in shock! I didn’t know what else to do… At this point I was a suspected suicide bomber, I had two pistols and a proven material for making bombs! I’m doomed!, tomorrow’s GEO TV will be having a slide “Suspected Suicide Bomber Arrested”.

A while later my contact arrived the station with his lawyer (who was picked up from his home at that time of the night) and asked for the person who spoke to me on the phone, the SHO said it was me, the contact then said “is banday ko tu baad mein daikh lein ge, tum ne gali kaisay di mujhay. Mein tum pe case karo ga” anyway, after a while of tough exchange of arguments, my contact asked him about the case he has put on me. The SHO told him nature of the case and about what he has discovered from my bag. My contact said “give me the two pistols back” the SHO got confused and said “we were just pressurizing him”. The contact of mine said “does he look like a suicide bomber to you, I will press charges case against you.” The SHO was quite scared and confused, he apologized to me and the contact quite a lot, but we left the station and I was dropped off to my office…

This story is of my colleague’s experience, I happened to stay late the next day, he told me all what he had been through. He also told me the names and very specific details about the people involved, but I preferred not disclose the name on the internet (for safety reasons).

Moral of the Story:
It is not to comment on the ‘corrupt nature of the law’, it not even to highlight the importance of contacts in high profile. The concept is, One never forgets who he is, but most often forgets how he can prove to be who he really is.

As a respectable citizen and a human being, we should always keep our necessary documents with us. Refraining from carrying or applying for licenses, ID cards and / or other identification materials, just to avoid the “hectic procedure” isn’t a valid justification.

I always emphasize on focusing on one’s own personality circle with a centripetal manner not a centrifugal manner.