Daily Times

On Thursday June 21, 2018 when we came back home after spending Eid in Lahore, we found our home ransacked by unknown robbers who had put everything in topsy-turvy. Four windows in three different rooms were broken open and the rear door to the residence was found wide open, which they had probably used as exit.

There was no cupboard, no closet, no drawer, no jewellery box that they did not go through and empty on the floor or on bed or couches. The “robbers” it seems, were not interested in cash (we had some amount in foreign currency, left overs from my recent visits abroad), or in jewellery (my precious and semi precious stone & pearl jewellery was there in around four jewellery boxes and drawers), or in gadgets (old laptops, desktops, printers, scanners, smartphones, etc.), except just three items out of them, i.e., two laptops (a MacBook Pro and a Dell laptop) and one Samsung Note 4 (they left behind other phones like iPhone 4S, Samsung S4 and an iPod etc.), and an Apple iPad. The laptops that have gone missing carry personal pictures and data that have no meaning to anyone other than us.

They took time to go through all the documents and files in our study, which they spread all over the floor and on tables. We haven’t gone through each and every file as yet to know what exactly they’ve taken. The drawer that we used for keeping passports etc. was left open with the expired passports only. The valid ones were detached and could not be found until later when we found one of them lying under the bed and the other under a dressing table.

So far, the only jewellery items that seem missing are my daughter’s gold ring gifted by a close friend, and my wedding ring, which had immense sentimental value for us as it had travelled from my husband’s grandmother through his mother to me.

This entire episode has left three of us, my daughter, my husband and I, utterly disgusted, feeling absolutely violated and vulnerable. Seeing your home as a crime scene, is in itself a terrifying experience, but its impact increases manifold if the law-enforcing mechanism of the state does not respond befittingly. The fact that the state has maintained an extremely laid-back posture since last four days is a matter of concern for us. The Police reached after an hour of our phone call and took another three hours to secure the forensic evidence. Since then, there is no update on the case. It is lamentable and reflects badly on the capability of the state of Pakistan to enforce law.

At these difficult moments, we want to thank our friends, colleagues from media & civil society, political parties, and the fellow citizens who have shown immense support after this incident. We can’t thank all of you enough for this moral support at a time when we are made to feel extremely insecure and unsafe in our own home.

Lastly, Rwail, Sirmed and I strongly believe in the power of pen and our resolve to keep saying what we consider truth. We vow with all sincerity and conscience that we shall not stop doing what we have always done: telling the truth, standing up for the weak & the marginalised, human rights for all, and meaningful democracy led by legitimate civilian democratic forces.

Long live Pakistan, long live humanism.

Published in Daily Times, June 25^th 2018.