Tatooed – not in ink, but in pain

Are we really going to let a criminal roam free?

It was just a matter of split seconds: in the blink of an eye I was attacked by a ruthless, helmeted creature. By the time my driver dragged him, he had already stabbed me – not once, twice or thrice but twenty three times. My little sister Sofia (aged six) whom I had just picked from school, shouted in despair failing in an attempt to rescue me trying to protect me with her tiny hands. She was stabbed too. As he was dragged off, his helmet fell off and revealed his face in the CCTV footage. The men surrounding me as I lay lifeless in the middle of the road declared me dead. As I recited the Kalima, I heard my sister’s little agonising voice. “Deej!” she screamed, “are you okay?” My eyes opened trying to reciprocate and I raised my blood smeared hand wanting to reassure her but couldn’t utter a word.

A few minutes prior to this hapless incident I had been studying tort law cases –  my final exam was just three days away. Little did I know I’d be battling death the next moment, such an unanticipated twist of fate indeed. My fight for life had just begun. Those awfully tormenting days in the hospital, when I couldn’t eat or speak but just perpetually moaned for doses of pain-killers, the endless hours under anesthetics undergoing several surgeries, the 10 bottles of blood I lost ,the 200 stitches , my own, paralysed body. I was going through extreme mental and physical anguish, but the hope of a new life and the smiles of my family around my hospital bed kept me going.

Can you imagine being stabbed? Even one stab across the neck would be enough to take someone’s life. Yet I sustained 23 stab wounds – and lived. The list of details however, is understandably, long. There were lacerations on my forehead and my left ear. I tried to defend myself with my right arm so the right somewhat played a defensive role so the forearm got completely injured which rendered it immobile for a month. My neck and back  have a calligraphy of stitches. However the main artery in the neck – the Carotid artery – miraculously remained intact. The most severe injury was to my back. The deep wounds in the thoracic spine region of C7 and T1  resulted in the leakage of CSF (cerebral spinal fluid). The doctors said they hadn’t witnessed such a survival. As I was in the hospital recovering, a  man  came to me and said: “Do you remember me? I took to the Emergency wing the very first day. You were in a horrifying condition. It’s a miracle you’re alive.”

The question that must be arising in your minds should be: who was the person that brutally attacked me?  He was my classmate from my university. I had stopped talking to him at the end of first year due to his threats and intimidations.  Everything was normal through our second year until 3rd May – 3 days before our final exams – when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he emerged with the dreaded intention of killing me, barbarically attacking me in front of my six year old sister. How can someone be so inhumane?

The point to ponder is that the attacker’s bike was parked in front of the first gate of Convent of Jesus and Mary, while my car was in front of Ambassador Hotel – that’s almost a five minute walk. He had to run to get me with his butcher’s knife because of the distance – he almost missed me. Where were the the Dolphin force, traffic wardens and elite force then? Why did no one try to stop him even after committing the heinous act? He ran back via the same route victoriously thrusting the knife in the air the blood stained hands and clothes.

There is no “other side” of the story as violence has no justification. The criminal and his family have tried all kinds of heinous and dirty tactics so that we withdraw from pursuance  of the case and let the criminal roam free.  They’ve even threatened using their “powers” as he is a well known lawyer’s son. It is a shame that the people responsible for upholding the law have taken it in their own hands and are trying to save their criminal son from punishment.

Despite the cancellation of his pre-arrest bail in Session Court by the respected Judge Nasim Ahmed Virk following which the criminal escaped arrest. Subsequently in High Court Justice respected Yawar Ali again cancelled his bail. However, two months later, the Session judge Saifullah Sohal granted him post-arrest bail which resulted in his release from jail.

I firmly believe that  life doesn’t end with the brutality of a male oriented mind set. Rather,  it begins when a woman is strong – strong enough to fight for her rights. It’s not the scars that hurt, but the fact that my attacker roams around freely. Lack of punishment for such criminals would mean opening avenues to commit crimes and escape criminal liability by using their “power” – as it has always been in previous cases.

In this dismal state of affairs, as an unfortunate victim, I plead for justice to be served, since no one is above the law – be it a lawyer’s son or a politician’s son. I request Chief Justice, Mansoor Ali Shah, to personally look into the matter and provide me with justice.

Justice should be served, not because I suffered or shed blood, but because tomorrow it could be your daughter. And this time around, a miraculous survival just might not happen.