Loved ones still fighting for justice one year after UK-AJK national dead Farooq Ali – allegedly murdered in a room of Ramada hotel Islamabad a year ago but accused behind the heinous crime are still at large.
Besides invoking jurisdiction of the Islamabad High Court for determining legality of an Additional District and Session Judge decision who had turned down complaint seeking action against preparators, the family members are struggling for remedy in the matter while exercising their right to protest in the town.
Last Saturday marked one year since Bradford Biochemist and a writer Farooq Ali, 44, who was allegedly murdered in Ramada hotel Islamabad, and his killer has never been caught. His sister Dr. Rehiana B. Ali along with parents and supporters marked the anniversary by recapping the events of the day on social media, including a protest in front of the National Press Club and Ramada hotel Islamabad on March 11,2023.
Talking to TLTP, Consultant Neurologist and Farooq’s sister Dr Rehiana Ali said, “Over that 1 year, my family – myself, my sister Yasmin and my elderly parents (our father is 85 years old and had another heart attack in 2021) – remained in Pakistan trying to use the very institutions set up to deliver Justice.”
She further expressed saying, “Of course Farooq Ali was my brother and I do not expect others to feel the same love I had for him. But those who have experienced a vicious loss will surely understand our pain. And there are many in Kashmir who have had loved ones murdered. Farooq was the lynchpin of our family – the one who, amongst many other practices, advocated education for girls – there were not many females in the 1990s who were sent to a private grammar school and then went on to Cambridge University to study Medicine followed by a PhD in Neurosciences at Imperial College London. He himself had studied Biochemistry at Imperial College London and also had a Masters degree in the same subject. In January 2017, I was the first female Cambridge-educated Kashmiri with a PhD to become a Consultant Neurologist in the UK. My sister was a banking lawyer – again supported by Farooq.”
It is pertinent to mention that recently one of the Deputy Superintended Police Ahmed Kamal submitted report in response to IHC directives in the matter saying after finding no evidence of murder in the hotel, the police has discharge the case. However, the police said in its report that the department is still waiting for forensic report of the Federal Investigation Agency’s cybercrime wing over the mobile and laptop belonging to the dead Farooq Ali.
April 4, 2023 is the next date of hearing in the matter before Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir for arguments over possibilities to remand the case in order to ascertain the truth.
