‘Pure Evil’

Unless you have had a family member murdered, I don’t think people can comprehend. In fact, I’d go further, until you’ve had a family member for whom you would have given your own life murdered, I don’t think people can comprehend or begin to comprehend the pain involved. It’s not a transitory pain. Life can’t get better because the light has gone.

Murder is not a natural death where there is pain of the loss of life but an understanding that someone had an illness or that “their time had come” and with that bereavement comes some healing. Healing can even come from accidental deaths – accidents happen. I don’t minimise other deaths in the slightest but one can at least rationalise those situations – eventually. Murder however is sudden and an act of pure evil. The kind of evil that one sees perpetrated by the Israelis against the Palestinians but rarely comes into personal contact with. Pure evil is how I see my brother’s murder at Ramada by Wyndham at Islamabad.

There is no doubt that Farooq’s murder was not a “random” act. He was not yet a known figure publicly – indeed, even the websites and articles were under a ‘pen name’ but as a certain saying goes, often your enemies know you before your friends do. If you don’t represent a threat to the powers, you’re safe. And most people are safe. This was an international standard hotel used extensively by the British embassy for their Afghan employees – note not refugees (they got tents) – that were fleeing the new Afghan government after August 2021. A UK citizen could not be killed in this hotel randomly by a “local” without consequences. Given the economic and political crises of Pakistan, it would risk creating a “diplomatic incident” if the country of citizenship objected.

“If you don’t represent a threat to the powers, you’re safe. And most people are safe”.

However, the direct culprits who carried out this murder are at Ramada by Wyndham hotel on Club Road in Islamabad. On 11^th March 2023 at the protest outside Ramada, a female manager had the gall to say “there is no court case; it’s been dismissed”. They were that confident that there would be no trial? Is this how the hotel owner Chaudhry Riaz Ahmed, its management and staff were persuaded to commit and overlook murder? Did they think the wealth of Ramada and foreign ‘dark forces’ would insulate them from the consequences of their actions?

Well, the Islamabad High Court ruled in the matter there should be a judicial enquiry. There is nowhere for them to hide. Afzaal Mirza, Abbas Gul, Major Khalid Zaheer, Muhammad Zaheer, Obaid Al-Rehman Abbasi, Bahar Ali, Talha Khurshid, Hamid Nawaz, the FSS man and others that the hotel and ICT police have so far refused to name should understand that my brother’s life was invaluable and far more important than their meagre cheap existence. They will not escape justice.

Every single hotel staff who continues to work at Ramada knowing even the basic facts of this case carries a guilt. The people they choose to work with have either murdered, been complicit with murder or are aware of the murder. Silence in a situation such as this is unforgivable. There are other hotels to work for. Hotels where they don’t kill guests. They should do the right thing.

The lack of understanding about the importance of justice extends to those who are meant to uphold it. The Islamabad Police know there was a murder yet their own police officers – Tariq Mehmood, Qurban Ali Anwer and Akram Nagra, were complicit. Their colleagues know what happened but remain silent. It does not inspire confidence in an institution.

Lady Justice has been slow. For almost 19 months, the killers have had their freedom but the victim – my brother Farooq – and his family have faced repeated obstacles. Do people not understand the concept of compassion and fairness and that justice to be delivered in a timely way? Do they not comprehend that someone’s life was taken at a 4* hotel and that this someone was a rare individual who would have contributed immeasurably to Pakistan? It has felt in part over the last 19 months that the ‘law of the jungle’ is being applied and it should never feel like that for the victims.

Then what about the “outsiders” – those who know of the evil yet remain silent? Where is their humanity? That one aspect that distinguishes us from the savages that roam this planet. What of the Muslims? No Muslim can turn a blind eye to injustice. In fact, the strictures on justice are very clear in Islam. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was heard to have said “Indeed when people see an oppressor but do not prevent him from doing evil, it is likely that Allah will punish them all.” Another Hadith is from the Mother of Believers, Zainab Bint Jahsh (May Allah be pleased with her): “I asked the Prophet (PBUH): Will we be destroyed even if we have righteous people amongst us? The Messenger (PBUH) said, ‘Yes, if filth (base sins) becomes rampant.” And finally if that is not clear enough, Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever among you sees evil, let him change it with his hand. If he cannot do so, then with his tongue. If he cannot do so, then with his heart, which is the weakest level of faith.”

For those who took the proverbial ‘thirty pieces of silver’ at Ramada by Wyndham hotel, they should remember two things – that murder is never justified in Islam and that secondly, whilst I will never get my brother back, they will pay a price for that evil committed on 11-12^th March 2022 and since. For those of Shakespearean bent, remember Lady Macbeth’s words “Here’s the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”. Those that orchestrated, those that killed, those that were complicit and those who overlook my brother’s murder should remember that the stench of murder can never be washed away.

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The Author Dr. Rehiana B. Ali is sister of a UK national and patriotic Pakistani-Kashmiri, Farooq Ali, who was allegedly murdered in a room of Ramada hotel Islamabad more than one and half years ago but the accused behind the heinous crime are still at large.

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