On 16th March 2024 it will have been 2 years to what will always be the worst day of my life. It was the day that I heard the most precious person in my life was supposedly dead. I later learnt that my brother Farooq had been killed on 11-12th March but that for five days, the staff at Ramada by Wyndham left his body in a VIP room without the usual housekeeping, room service and indeed the executive lounge service. The staff didn’t even offer water to the room for any of those five days. That this 4-star hotel, one of the top three in Islamabad, made all these “errors” for only my brother and only at this time is far-fetched to say the least. But it gets worse. This huge business that doesn’t let you in without payment or stay an hour over your time didn’t even request a payment for 6 days – but it was one of the first things they requested when we arrived in Islamabad. These are just some of the issues that raised so many questions but which Islamabad Police refused to investigate.
Indeed, I was refused an FIR and had to go to court before they would issue it. I was forced to go to court again as Islamabad Police, despite the FIR, still refused to investigate. They were then ordered by the Honourable Judge of the District Court Humayun Dilawar to complete their investigation by 20th July 2022. They disobeyed that order. After several more months, a private complaint was lodged but this was rejected by an Additional Sessions Judge Sipra without explanation. It then took 10 months in the High Court whilst Islamabad Police repeatedly showed their disrespect for the courts with delays in producing their “reports” until finally in August 2023, the Honourable Judge of the Islamabad High Court Justice Arbab ruled that a prima facie case had been established to start a trial, that Judge Sipra had “erred in law” and that a different Judge should preside over the trial. So, as we reach the two-year mark, where are we?
There were initial delays as Additional Sessions Judge of Islamabad Sikandar Khan considered the High Court order. At that time, the lawyer for the Accused brought most of them in even before Notices were issued. “Look”, he waved “they’re all here. They’re innocent”. Perhaps he was trying to avoid the necessary legal procedural steps? So it’s strange that his “innocent” clients have been avoiding the court since Notices were issued from October 2023 and not been submitting their bonds using all manner of excuses – in essence, deliberately delaying proceedings. Ch. Riaz Ahmed, the hotel owner, has managed to be ill twice and have a brother-in-law die, Dr Niaz was recently ill, the manager Afzal Mirza has been abroad on a “work trip”, police officers were “on duty” and “in a different court”. In January, the lawyer for the Accused even lied directly to the Judge when he said the Accused were all present – however when the Judge checked the names, half the Accused were not even present. So clearly, it’s not just the Accused disrespecting the court.
From October 2023, Accused Abbas Gul did not show on four occasions despite the Notices – but magically appeared on the fifth occasion when a bailable warrant was issued against his name. Unfortunately, no hard questions were asked as to why he’d ignored the repeated Court Notices. He claimed he now worked in Lahore so odd that when an ultimatum of sorts was given in court, he could materialise within half an hour. On the last hearing this month, Hamid Nawaz again failed to appear and a non-bailable warrant was repeated. Despite appearing with the other hotel staff on earlier occasions, the Accused’s Lawyer now claimed that he had not worked in the hotel for eight months! Yet he had been returning with the other Accused in the Ramada by Wyndham van so it seems bizarre that he can’t now be located. Abbas Gul also had not submitted his surety bond claiming that he had not been told about it. The Judge took a dim view of this blatant lie in his court telling him that he had clear memory of him being informed about the bond. The police officers were similarly shameless – brandishing their police credentials as if that implied they were beyond reproach, oblivious it seems of the seriousness of the crime of which they’ve been accused: complicity in the murder of a Pakistani patriot. They complained they had inadequate funds – as I understand, bribery payments are not insignificant in ICT police.
So it’s taken five months to get most of the Accused to turn up and furnish their surety bond. What has startled me is the sheer disrespect shown to a Court of Law by the Accused and their Lawyer. These are hardly the actions of individuals keen to prove their innocence. In fact in February – when most of the Accused had received the documents containing evidence of their involvement – their Lawyer made an application to dismiss the case! I cannot express my incredulity at the sheer lunacy of this step at this point – after a High Court ruling that the case had merits to proceed to a trial and turning up for five months to court hearings and paying surety bonds! Did the CCTV evidence cause concern as it becomes clear that their “stories” won’t add up and their statements were full of lies?
No doubt there remains some arrogance that the name ‘Ramada by Wyndham’ will protect them or that they can keep playing games despite the heinous nature of their crime. Perhaps they think that I will just go away – they should remember that ICT police played that game. When I see them, I actually just see savages – they have and had no respect for life. They claim they’re Muslim – yet they disobeyed the Quran (Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:32) “.. that whoever kills a soul .. it is as if he had slain mankind entirely”.
The last two years have been a nightmare that if you haven’t personally experienced a murder of someone for whom you would have given your own life, I don’t think you can understand the anguish of not knowing what Farooq experienced in those final hours. But with that pain and anguish is a deep anger. Not just at his killers but a justice system that continues to punish the victim and his family – perhaps not intentionally but does nevertheless.
So for everyone else, life carries on. For me, life is at a standstill because there is only one thing that matters – those that killed my brother meet the very same fate. The only way to avoid that is to come forward and confess – finding another job will surely be easier than Jahannam.
Dr Rehiana Ali was the younger sister of UK national and patriotic Pakistani-Kashmiri Farooq Ali whom she says was assassinated at Ramada by Wyndham on 11-12th March 2022. A trial is currently underway in Islamabad. The justice campaign can be followed on X @Justice4Farooq
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Views expressed in this Op-ed and following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the TLTP.
