ISLAMABAD:
“Why is Musharraf being allowed to go abroad on the pretext that his
mother is ailing? Why was I not allowed to perform the last rites of my
father when I was in jail. Why do they have a different law for
commoners like me and the powerful like Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf?”
These three questions were addressed to me by Rana Faqir Hussain, 59,
who spent eight long years behind bars for allegedly playing some role
in the multiple suicide attacks on December 25, 2003 on former president
and army chief Pervez Musharraf.
Rana Faqir was cleared by the courts and subsequently released in September 2013. Rana Faqir lost his father, M Yousaf, mother-in-law, Hameeda Bibi and a couple of his uncles when he was detained by the law enforcement agencies. Despite requests and applications, he was not allowed to take part in their funeral prayers. Rather, he and each member of his family were tortured brutally to accept their role in the multiple suicide attacks on Musharraf back in December 2003.
We were sitting in his drawing room where his wife, Anwaar Fitrat, and his daughter-in-law, Shazia Mubasher, were also present. Each one of them was arrested by the intelligence agencies and then by the police and later were cleared by the courts, after a long and tiresome judicial process. Faqir’s son, Rana Naveed, was also cleared by the courts in the same case. However, he is still behind bars as he was declared guilty by a military court for his role in instigating the army men under section 31(D) of the Military Act.
I was treated to Samosas, Gulab Jamuns and Jalaibis along with a cup of tea. I had met this family a couple of years back. This time, they contacted me as they were upset to hear the rumours that the former military dictator was being allowed to go abroad. Their rented house, in a poor locality of Islamabad bordering Rawalpindi, was a reflection of their poverty.
White-bearded Rana Faqir who also served in the army (1972 to 1976) recalled that he was working as a driver with a retired Major, Rao Suleman, when he first heard that the then president and army chief Pervez Musharraf was attacked again by the militants in Rawalpindi on December 25, 2003. Musharraf had also been attacked only 14 days ago the same year. He said that things had been normal. However, after a couple of days on December 31, 2003, he went to his job where his boss participated in New Year’s night celebrations. When Rana Faqir came back home the next morning, his wife Anwaar told him that some agencies had picked up Rana Naveed, their son, from his workplace (Zarai Taraqiati Bank) located near Zero Point, Islamabad. Naveed was living separately in a government residence which was allotted to him by the bank.
“Initially, we could not understand why he was picked up,” said Faqir. However, we thought that they could be following his son because of his wife Shazia’s brother who was a ‘jihadi’.
He said that he started making calls here and there but could not find a clue about his son. Meanwhile, on the same evening, his wife and their daughter-in-law, Shazia Mubasher, went out to make a telephone call to the latter’s house back in Bahawalpur in southern Punjab on a PCO. That was a time when mobile phones were not that common.
When both the women were coming back to their home, located near Zia Masjid, Rawalpindi, Faqir along with his wife present in the room claimed that some plainclothes people holding guns asked them about the residence of Rana Faqir. The plainclothes men did not know that the ladies were actually related to him. The two ladies feigned ignorance about Rana Faqir. However, they rushed back home hurriedly and told Rana Faqir that the agencies were all set to arrest him.
“The women persuaded me to flee home but I had nothing in my mind and I was confused. Meanwhile, there was a knock at the door,” recalled Faqir. He said that he went to the rooftop and fled the house with only 100 rupees in his pocket. He told me that at that time he had only one thing in his mind that he would come back once everything is settled as he was still unaware why the police and agencies were after him.
After his departure, the intelligence operators arrested five out of eight of his children, including Rana Waseem, Rana Azeem, Abubakar and his two daughters, Saadia and Samia. Rana Naveed, his eldest son, was already in their custody. On the fourth day of January 2004, they also arrested his wife, Anwaar Fitrat, and his daughter-in-law, Shazia (wife of the arrested Rana Naveed) who was with an 11-month-old infant. Shazia was in Bahawalpur by that time. They also arrested some of their relatives who were visiting them and some relatives were arrested from Faisalabad too.
His sons, Waseem and Rana Azeem, remained in the custody of the intelligence agencies and police for two and a half years and Abubakar and two of his daughters, Sadiaa and Samiaa, remained in their custody for one year. Nothing could be proved against them and after complete satisfaction of the law enforcement agencies, they were released one by one.
Rana Faqir, after fleeing the scene, reached Raiwind, where he spent some time. Next year, when the news of the release of his daughters reached him he contacted them through a family friend and brought them to Lahore where he started living with them in Shadbagh from where he was arrested in December 2005. Meanwhile, he came to know that their family was actually being pursued and arrested in connection with the attacks on Pervez Musharraf.
The old man was badly tortured by the police and law enforcement agencies during his arrest. He mentioned in particular the bad treatment meted out to him by two Rawalpindi police officers, SSP Raja Bisharat and SSP Rana Shahid. “Incidentally both are my friends. They not only tortured me but used very dirty language during the investigations,” a depressed Rana Faqir said in front of his wife and daughter-in-law.
Rana Faqir was released on September 18, 2013 from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. I was not the first rather the only one to interview him outside the jail for Geo News. In his drawing room, he shared that he had lost everything as two of his sons had become heroin addicts. His small car was confiscated by the Civil Lines Police, Rawalpindi, and had not been returned yet. Precious jewellery was also missing and he had no clue about it yet. He said that though he and his family were cleared by the courts, they were still facing psychological as well as social problems and wherever they went for jobs so they could live a normal life, the people thought that they were terrorists.
Rana Faqir said that one of his daughters got divorced because of this incident and they were unable to marry the youngest of their daughters because they were tagged as “terrorists.”
The poor man was upset when an Anti-Terrorist Court arranged the hearing for the former dictator at his farmhouse. He wrote him a two-page letter telling the general how badly he was treated by his agencies when he was in power. The old man is still waiting for an answer from the former president who had recently shifted back to his farmhouse after his almost three-month stay at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC). “We should end the duplicity of the law and double standards in our country,” he said.
Faqir said that being poor and a common citizen, he felt insulted and degraded when he faced such problems merely because he was “alleged” of being involved in terrorism.
When he thanked the present military leadership that it was not supporting Musharraf’s exit from the country and was not taking part in this dirty game, I could not resist a smile. Our meeting lasted almost three hours. While writing his story, I still don’t have answers to any of his questions addressed to me.
Rana Faqir was cleared by the courts and subsequently released in September 2013. Rana Faqir lost his father, M Yousaf, mother-in-law, Hameeda Bibi and a couple of his uncles when he was detained by the law enforcement agencies. Despite requests and applications, he was not allowed to take part in their funeral prayers. Rather, he and each member of his family were tortured brutally to accept their role in the multiple suicide attacks on Musharraf back in December 2003.
We were sitting in his drawing room where his wife, Anwaar Fitrat, and his daughter-in-law, Shazia Mubasher, were also present. Each one of them was arrested by the intelligence agencies and then by the police and later were cleared by the courts, after a long and tiresome judicial process. Faqir’s son, Rana Naveed, was also cleared by the courts in the same case. However, he is still behind bars as he was declared guilty by a military court for his role in instigating the army men under section 31(D) of the Military Act.
I was treated to Samosas, Gulab Jamuns and Jalaibis along with a cup of tea. I had met this family a couple of years back. This time, they contacted me as they were upset to hear the rumours that the former military dictator was being allowed to go abroad. Their rented house, in a poor locality of Islamabad bordering Rawalpindi, was a reflection of their poverty.
White-bearded Rana Faqir who also served in the army (1972 to 1976) recalled that he was working as a driver with a retired Major, Rao Suleman, when he first heard that the then president and army chief Pervez Musharraf was attacked again by the militants in Rawalpindi on December 25, 2003. Musharraf had also been attacked only 14 days ago the same year. He said that things had been normal. However, after a couple of days on December 31, 2003, he went to his job where his boss participated in New Year’s night celebrations. When Rana Faqir came back home the next morning, his wife Anwaar told him that some agencies had picked up Rana Naveed, their son, from his workplace (Zarai Taraqiati Bank) located near Zero Point, Islamabad. Naveed was living separately in a government residence which was allotted to him by the bank.
“Initially, we could not understand why he was picked up,” said Faqir. However, we thought that they could be following his son because of his wife Shazia’s brother who was a ‘jihadi’.
He said that he started making calls here and there but could not find a clue about his son. Meanwhile, on the same evening, his wife and their daughter-in-law, Shazia Mubasher, went out to make a telephone call to the latter’s house back in Bahawalpur in southern Punjab on a PCO. That was a time when mobile phones were not that common.
When both the women were coming back to their home, located near Zia Masjid, Rawalpindi, Faqir along with his wife present in the room claimed that some plainclothes people holding guns asked them about the residence of Rana Faqir. The plainclothes men did not know that the ladies were actually related to him. The two ladies feigned ignorance about Rana Faqir. However, they rushed back home hurriedly and told Rana Faqir that the agencies were all set to arrest him.
“The women persuaded me to flee home but I had nothing in my mind and I was confused. Meanwhile, there was a knock at the door,” recalled Faqir. He said that he went to the rooftop and fled the house with only 100 rupees in his pocket. He told me that at that time he had only one thing in his mind that he would come back once everything is settled as he was still unaware why the police and agencies were after him.
After his departure, the intelligence operators arrested five out of eight of his children, including Rana Waseem, Rana Azeem, Abubakar and his two daughters, Saadia and Samia. Rana Naveed, his eldest son, was already in their custody. On the fourth day of January 2004, they also arrested his wife, Anwaar Fitrat, and his daughter-in-law, Shazia (wife of the arrested Rana Naveed) who was with an 11-month-old infant. Shazia was in Bahawalpur by that time. They also arrested some of their relatives who were visiting them and some relatives were arrested from Faisalabad too.
His sons, Waseem and Rana Azeem, remained in the custody of the intelligence agencies and police for two and a half years and Abubakar and two of his daughters, Sadiaa and Samiaa, remained in their custody for one year. Nothing could be proved against them and after complete satisfaction of the law enforcement agencies, they were released one by one.
Rana Faqir, after fleeing the scene, reached Raiwind, where he spent some time. Next year, when the news of the release of his daughters reached him he contacted them through a family friend and brought them to Lahore where he started living with them in Shadbagh from where he was arrested in December 2005. Meanwhile, he came to know that their family was actually being pursued and arrested in connection with the attacks on Pervez Musharraf.
The old man was badly tortured by the police and law enforcement agencies during his arrest. He mentioned in particular the bad treatment meted out to him by two Rawalpindi police officers, SSP Raja Bisharat and SSP Rana Shahid. “Incidentally both are my friends. They not only tortured me but used very dirty language during the investigations,” a depressed Rana Faqir said in front of his wife and daughter-in-law.
Rana Faqir was released on September 18, 2013 from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. I was not the first rather the only one to interview him outside the jail for Geo News. In his drawing room, he shared that he had lost everything as two of his sons had become heroin addicts. His small car was confiscated by the Civil Lines Police, Rawalpindi, and had not been returned yet. Precious jewellery was also missing and he had no clue about it yet. He said that though he and his family were cleared by the courts, they were still facing psychological as well as social problems and wherever they went for jobs so they could live a normal life, the people thought that they were terrorists.
Rana Faqir said that one of his daughters got divorced because of this incident and they were unable to marry the youngest of their daughters because they were tagged as “terrorists.”
The poor man was upset when an Anti-Terrorist Court arranged the hearing for the former dictator at his farmhouse. He wrote him a two-page letter telling the general how badly he was treated by his agencies when he was in power. The old man is still waiting for an answer from the former president who had recently shifted back to his farmhouse after his almost three-month stay at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC). “We should end the duplicity of the law and double standards in our country,” he said.
Faqir said that being poor and a common citizen, he felt insulted and degraded when he faced such problems merely because he was “alleged” of being involved in terrorism.
When he thanked the present military leadership that it was not supporting Musharraf’s exit from the country and was not taking part in this dirty game, I could not resist a smile. Our meeting lasted almost three hours. While writing his story, I still don’t have answers to any of his questions addressed to me.
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