Daily Times

It was around 1pm on January 14 when TV channels started running the news that a body has been found from the Karachi’s Ibrahim Hyderi area. The deceased was identified as Hasan Zafar. It took people a lot of time to realize it was Professor Dr Hasan Zafar Arif who had died silently, in the backseat of his car in a Karachi’s far off coastal area.

People who had just woken up from their weekend long sleep would have thought how promptly they were told this news. But the professor had been dead since long when the news hit the channels. His body was discovered around 8pm. What happened to him in the time span between 8am to 1pm on the ill-fated Sunday seems to be a mystery that a few people might not allow you to delve into.

The longtime human rights defender who put the foundation of Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS), which challenged dictator Ziaul Haq’s martial law, came to the limelight two years ago – once again – after he joined Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Amid internal rifts, Zafar Arif was made head of the party’s pro Altaf Hussain faction.

The political philosopher’s body was found during the wee hours on Sunday and finally at 8.15am, an area elder named Yunus informed Head Constable Safdar Niazi that a body is lying at a backseat of a vehicle facing the sea shore at Ilyas Goth.

“I immediately reached the site at 8.25am and requested my higher-ups to be there,” Niazi said. The car was still parked as it was when the officials came, its keys still in the ignition switch while Zafar Arif lay in back, slouched towards right, his nose and cheeks smeared with blood.

At precisely 8.35am Zafar Arif’s car, along with his body, was taken to ‘somewhere’ for at least two hours. No crime scene formalities were observed as it emerged after the interviews with DSP, investigation officer, the mentioned head constable.

Forensic evidence of alleged ‘crime scene’ gone, buried with Zafar Arif’s body Ibrahim Hyderi DSP Irfan Zaman says that an investigation team of his police station conducted the ‘imperative’ duty of collecting evidence from Zafar Arif’s car – a silver Mitsubishi Lancer – for almost an hour. “We dispatched the people there and they thoroughly collected forensic evidence for more than an hour. Only after that we took his car to our police station at 10.30am,” he said.

When asked who is the man leading the team and when the results will be out, Zaman replied: “I don’t exactly remember that because there were too many people. But we did collect evidence and the results will be out obviously after a few weeks.”

He further said that Zafar Arif’s daughter and widow came to the police station the next day and said the professor died of natural reasons. “We know that it’s a natural death,” he said.

Asked further if he will register the case and reveal the policeman looking into forensic evidence, Zaman said he was busy in a meeting and could not comment any further. “I will talk to you and answer every question,” he sad and cut the call. After that the DSP did not answer any of the calls despite repeated attempts.

Zafar Arif’s car was taken to police station at 8.45am from the ‘crime scene’ Contrary to what the DSP had said, Head Constable Niazi says after reaching the site he sat behind the car and took it to the police station.

“We had to take the car because people had started gathering there. The car’s keys were still inserted in the switch and stood a few feet away from the main road of the area, facing the sea,” he said.

So what must have been the exact time, he reached the station? “Police station was not that far away. We reached it at almost 8.45am.”

He said they completed the formalities there and called in the rescue workers to take out the body from the car.

The time from 8.45am to 10.25am is a black hole. No one knows what happened to Zafar Arif’s car and his body during this span. Even if the concerned policemen were busy collecting evidence during this time, it was of no use. The car had been removed from the scene which was at the Rehri Goth area – all finger prints of alleged killers or abusers of Zafar Arif, if any, gone for good.

Enters Chhipa rescue workers hours after Zafar Arif’s demise Nasir Javed, a diligent Chhipa worker received a call at 10.30am that he needs to reach Ibrahim Hyderi police station for shifting a body.

“I was contacted by the Chhipa control room at precisely 10.25am that I have to be there. I reached the venue within five to 10 minutes,” he said. When asked if he went to the crime scene, Nasir said no and that he was told that the car was at the police station.

“We don’t know who brought the car from the site where it was found. It must have been the policemen,” he said.

The body reached the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre at 11.30am where the officials checked it thoroughly ad later on announced there were visible marks of torture. Within an hour or two, the postmortem was carried out. “It was a heart attack.”

Suffocation, tension amid burial rites The people close to Zafar Arif shared their experience how in sheer haste the philosopher’s body was ‘actually disposed of’ as soon as possible because there were ‘dangerous people’ roaming about nearby.

“My uncle’s face was tilted towards right side in the coffin, against the religious norm. I objected but a relative intervened and said ‘bus bohat hugya’ (that’s enough now) and took the coffin with them for the graveyard,” one of Zafar Arif’s nieces said.

Another longtime student of Zafar Arif said that when he reached the Jinnah Hospital, he was welcomed with abuses and threats to immediately leave the premises.

“I told them that if they are this afraid I will carry out my spiritual father’s funerals from my place. I said Zafar Arif had told me that where he should be buried and I can take care of his grave but they just wouldn’t listen to me,” the former student, who identity has to be protected, says.

“At 12pm, they said the grave is already booked and no one should bother interfering in the matters,” he added.

“I saw my teacher’s body. The undergarments he was wearing were full of blood. His feet were smeared with blood,” he said and then went silent to suppress his tears.

Zafar Arif’s last abode is nothing like a grave Saturated with graves, Karachi’s Sakhi Hasan graveyard gives a picture of a city made of bones now. No place to even walk between the ubiquitous graves. But one such grave will certainly alert the observer as it looks out of the place. No one knows who lies there. It’s Zafar Arif’s last place to rest in. So huge a personality he was yet so small a place – hastily made – for him in the graveyard.

“I received the call from a person who said that they need a grave. So I had to make arrangements right away,” said a undertaker and gravedigger at the Sakhi Hasan graveyard.

It was 4.30pm when he received the call. However, Zafar Arif’s family had told anyone who wanted to arrange for his funeral and grave at 12pm that the grave was already booked.

Many questions, evidence and memories have been buried with the political philosopher of this era that Karachi was blessed to have. But the city of bones, perhaps, didn’t deserve him thus he was executed silently.

Published in Daily Times, February 28^th 2018.