“I felt myself robbed of everything I possessed,” said Shabana Hamad Raza, recalling the time when her husband was shot, while observing the 4th anniversary of the death of Supreme Court (SC) Additional Registrar Hamad Raza, along with other family members and parents on Sunday.
Four years back, Raza was shot, in the midst of the judicial crisis, at point blank range in front of his wife and three children at their official residence in Islamabad. Born in Sharaqpur in 1970, Raza was an Aitchisonian, gold medallist in international relations from Quaid-e-Azam University and a respected District Management Group (DMG) officer who joined the Pakistan Civil Services in 1995.
In an environment where Punjab domiciled officers were reluctant to serve outside the province, my husband served the people of Balochistan for 11 years and delivered effectively wherever he was appointed, said Shabana. “To people who knew him in professional and personal capacity, he was proof of the phrase ‘putting service before self’”, recalls Shabana.
She said her husband was never afraid to pursue problems of the citizens, even if it rattled some higher-ups. She said his honesty could be judged from the fact that despite being a DMG officer, he often needed to ask for financial help from his parents. Shabana said further that her wedding in August 2000 was an arranged marriage adding that the few years spent with her husband were the happiest years of her life.
The family, with their three little children, Haniah (5), Hamza (4) and infant Hayaan, moved to Islamabad in March 2006. They were in the process of renovating and decorating the official residence when on the morning of May 14, someone knocked at their bedroom door, pulled a trigger and killed 36-year old Raza. The widow said the shot fired by the unknown assailants who broke into their house through the kitchen window and sought him out on the first floor also shattered all hopes of his parents, dreams of his wife and the confidence, strength and sense of security that children could gain through togetherness with both parents.
“He was killed because he was honest,” she observed, adding that the loneliness of the past years had been compensated by respect accorded to her by the people who consider her the widow of a martyr. “I am determined to teach our children values practised by my husband, so that one day they will carry on his legacy of truth against all odds,” she added.