This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic) اردو (Urdu)
To,
Chief Minister Sahab,
Today I would like to bring to your notice something that you might have never experienced because of your world-class security. On 8th October, I left my home with great enthusiasm and energy as it was my last day at one of the workplaces. The company had outsourced their training department to us and we achieved the targets week before the deadline. Since the training was scheduled on Saturday, I had to be on time to make final arrangements for the event and make calls to participants.
My van came to pick me up at 8 a.m. I was busy thinking about my project while other girls were either sleeping or listening to songs. We stopped at a house near Nazimabad, Karachi to pick one of our van mates. We were waiting for her and suddenly, a person with a helmet on his head came and whispered something in our uncle’s ear. Before we could realize what’s happening, he had snatched his phone and taken away the van keys.
The second guy came from behind and he too posed his gun inside the van and asked us to give our cellphones. First, we all resisted. When they almost loaded the guns and pointed at a girl’s head, we had to give all that we had.
None of us expected it to happen in a lane which was fully crowded. I had always assumed before that day that the snatchers look for silent spots where they aren’t caught easily but contrary to it, they were all well in conducting amidst the public under the bright sun. To every person I told, they said that I should be fine with it as I live in Karachi and assume it as Sadqa gone. For how long in this country, will I give sadqa as my cellphones?
We pay heavy taxes on every purchase and at the end, we have to lose out the precious stuff to these dumb-heartless people. Is there anyone in the country who can actually take responsibility for it? Are all police stations meant to be empty and provide protocols to VIPs? For them, police work so efficiently that they are never mugged but for local public, they fail to provide security? Why do we pay taxes and you people live a life of peace and security?
I immediately came to office and tried locating my cell phone through google (the option is available). After failing, I called CPLC to please help me locate my cell as the number was still on. They refused and said that what they can do is block my cell. I then rang Ranger’s helpline and recorded my complaint — that my number was still on and they should help me trace the culprits. To date, no one has bothered contacting me. The procedure was so lengthy that the cellphone was finally off. I would have approached the police after office hours but no one among the van girls agreed to come along with me.
Everyone considered it vain as they had lost trust in the institution of police. They ended up doing Sabar and asked me to do same. I felt so helpless at that moment. I was not after my mobile. I only feared that how both the law enforcement agencies and the local population have settled down with mobile snatching. They have experienced the incidents so frequently that it has become a part of their life. I had to retrieve all my resources from other means which consumed the whole important day of my project. Only if you can understand, they didn’t just take my cellphone; they took my professional networking contacts, my energy for that day, my happiness to complete my project and engaged my mind with negative thoughts and worries.
I want to make it very clear to you as with due respect, you are responsible for my province’s affairs, I am not okay with giving my cellphones which I purchase after reckless hard work and investment of time and energy to these criminals every now and then. If such heavy budget is allocated for your protocol, the house you live and the luxury lifestyle you enjoy on government expenses, what is your performance in maintaining law and order? Why is there no setup for immediately locating stolen cellphones when someone complains about it?
I would please request you to find it time from your busy schedule and look into it. For you, it must be just a cell phone as you own other heavy assets, but for me, it is crime and it is unacceptable. Everyone has told me that this letter would not change anything but again I am investing time and energy with the belief it would bother you because it is on the social media now.
Had I sent or emailed directly, no one would have bothered evening reading it out. In this era, one has to say that, “Police se dar nahi lagta sahib, social media se lagta hai” so here I am, filing mine complain where at least it will stimulate some action. Please help me restore my faith in our police, government and especially in you. Take some action, at least speak up.
Regards,
Madiha Shamim
Victim who has given two cellphones away to criminals.
