"Who is going to save you from me?"

The first time I had a gun pointed to my head, it was held by a cop. I then got beaten black and blue.

The first time someone pointed a gun at me was a policeman. I can never forget the perspiring sight of the officer with rabid blood shot eyes, who breathed heavily while holding the trigger to a pistol pointed straight at my teenage face.

The year was 1999 and I was studying at DJ Science college in Karachi. My friend Faraz had offered me and another buddy Imran a ride home on his motorbike after classes.

Little did we know that there was a ban on pillion riding at that time. And to add insult to injury, we were not two, but three people on that wretched two-wheeler.

We had hardly travelled 100 meters when some policemen spotted us and signaled for us to stop. Daredevil Faraz sped right past them and chose, unwisely, to scream the choicest of expletives.

The infuriated, portly sub inspectors gave us the chase of our lives on their bikes. Just 10 minutes into the flight, Faraz dropped Imran and me on the side of the road with the parting words: “Run!”

However, just like in the movies, before we could think of taking another step, the cops appeared out of nowhere and held us by the neck. The fat cop, however, carried on after Faraz.

We were then made to sit as murghas on the road, while the two watchmen chewed on sugarcane, waiting for their boss to return from the hunt.

Faraz successfully managed to escape and we saw the fat cop, mad with rage, returning.

The first thing he did after he stepped off the bike was to take off his belt. He then ordered his men to follow suit.

Since we were still sitting in the murgha position, we were horrified to even imagine what would happen next. Fortunately, however, we were just whipped black and blue in the middle of the road.

In the end, the fat cop took out his gun and pointed it close to my mouth. He said that he could kill me and my friend at that very moment and get away with it.

He had asked,

“Who is going to save you from me?”

It’s been 11 years since that incident occurred. But today it cracks me up each time I recall it, especially since later we learned that Faraz was terrified not because he knew thought he would be punished due to the ban on pillion riding, but since he thought the porn CDs in his bag might get confiscated.

There’s just one thing that the entire episode makes me wonder: who’s really going to keep a watch over these watchmen?