By Dr. Rehiana B. Ali
So it’s 10th June 2023 and in 1 or 2 days’ time, it will have been 15 months since my brother was murdered at Ramada By Wyndham hotel in Islamabad. My brother’s death was not natural and anyone with even a few brain cells (though believe me, such people actually exist) knows that the narrative just doesn’t add up.
A 44 years old is perfectly well, has no medical conditions and takes no medications is suddenly dead. He is then left in a VIP hotel room for 5 days. He is not offered any water let alone food – remember that he took room service at least two or three times a day. He is not offered housekeeping. His food trolley is left in the room for 6 days – Ramada by Wyndham seemingly doesn’t want it back despite all their other guests. And a hotel that doesn’t let you in without payment doesn’t chase its bill that was delayed by 6 days.
In 10 months, my brother had no flexibility to pay late – indeed he had reminders on his phone and had all the receipts with the dates. Ramada by Wyndham now claims it said “pay at your convenience” as he was a long stay guest. When I asked the Investigating Officer last month, how would he define “long stay” – he told me, it meant 10 months. Not 8 months or 9 or 12 but 10. I suspect he was being cynical.
Not once have the lies from hotel staff been questioned. What I get is that “Pakistanis lie”. Really? Is this the new defence? We just lie? Not once during the shoddy police investigation have they adequately explained what three security men were doing outside my brother’s door between 4 – 5 am whilst other guests were asleep. What was the Fauji Security Services (FSS) man doing inside the hotel on the third floor? Who is he? What is his name? Why won’t the Police question him? Why did the former SSP Farhat Kazmi say that “there was no need to question him?” Why did the hotel say he was cleaning a fire extinguisher? Then they said he was testing the fire equipment and then on the latest statement he became a fully-fledged fireman.
Well it’s all lies. In April 2022, we asked the FSS men outside Ramada by Wyndham hotel whether they ever worked inside the hotel and their answer was an emphatic ‘no, our job is outside.’ Serena hotel use FSS – again the FSS guards denied that they have housekeeping duties. Last month, we went to FSS headquarters in Rawalpindi and spoke to Lt Col (Rtd) Muhammad Amir (Regional Manager Federal Rawalpindi) and Major (Rtd) Naveed Azam Khan (Operations Manager Rawalpindi).
Obviously we didn’t state the true reason for our visit as I suspect they may have been less than cooperative. His full response is on the social media sites #JusticeForFarooqAliKhan. In short? Of course his men don’t housekeep. These are retired police and military personnel. Can you imagine a policeman or a ex-military man taking a cloth to wipe down surfaces? The very idea is ridiculous and would no doubt be offensive to any such retired officer. And are they firemen? No. Their basic training is how to raise the alarm in the case of a fire and perhaps how to use a fire extinguisher! Basic fire training – pretty much what I had as a doctor. I wouldn’t call myself a “firewoman”.
So after the ‘non’ investigations and the poor experience in the Sessions Court where we were again denied justice, we invoked the jurisdiction of the Islamabad High Court. From November 2022 we had repeated hearings in which Police were asked to provide reports. It took ICT Police until February 2023 to produce their “final report” which was the same as their provisional reports of July 2022, August 2022 and October 2022.
In fact, I began to lose track of the “reports”. They reported nothing. They investigated nothing. And the question is why not? If my brother’s death was natural, surely it was easy enough to explain why the FSS man was staring intently at my brother’s door on the third floor? Easy to explain why a big business didn’t chase its bill for six days? Surely it was not too hard to explain why hotel staff who had daily interaction with my brother didn’t think it odd that he hadn’t been seen? Easy to explain why they lied about an electronic ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign? I didn’t ask any complicated questions – I asked the questions anyone who had lost a loved one would have asked in this situation. And I didn’t just lose a loved one. I lost my world – because Farooq was my world. Yet I am getting no answers. If there’s nothing to hide, just provide the answers but all that is being shown is that these people never expected any questions and that in itself is problematic. That too often, this “nothing will happen mentality” which pervades our society is actually what obstructs our development as a Nation. People who believe “nothing will happen” will never do anything. So I continue to wait for that Pakistani patriot to say that what happened to my brother, a loyal son of Pakistan and Kashmir, was a crime and spill the beans – no Muslim country should accept or countenance the idea that murderers should escape Justice.
The Author Dr. Rehiana B. Ali is sister of a UK-AJK national dead Farooq Ali who was allegedly murdered in a room of Ramada hotel Islamabad more than a year ago but accused behind the heinous crime are still at large.
