No death sentences, just nine lives for this Karachi court’s furry friends

One constable has made it a tradition to feed the cats at the ATCs

KARACHI: A chorus of meows greets Constable Abdul Rehman as he walks into Karachi’s Anti-Terrorism Courts. It’s lunch time.

They’re all eyeing the plastic bag he brings every day, full of juicy scraps of meat. A spotted brown cat that has recently given birth to kittens looks up hopefully. A fluffy white feline slinks up to him.

The 46-year-old policeman has been feeding his furry friends at the courts for four years now. And before this, when he was posted to the police headquarters as part of the Sindh Reserve Police, he fed the cats there too.

“I see that these cats are often delirious with hunger,” Rehman told The Express Tribune. “It is a rewarding act to feed animals.”

When the cats spot the bag of food in Rehman’s hands, it’s a race to the grounds to get their paws on it first. Sometimes, there’s a loud yowl as the felines fight to get a bigger morsel. “Once they’re done, they don’t fight,” he says with the indulgence of a grandmother.

Rehman buys them chicken, meat and fish and pays for the food himself. “It costs around Rs50 or Rs60 every day, and sometimes nothing at all because the shops I get it from know it is for the cats,” he says. (His sense of charity extends to the schoolchildren of Future Stars Grammar School in Lyari, who he often treats with extra boxes of sweets from the suppliers.)

The cats manage to fend for themselves if Rehman isn’t able to come to the courts for a day. “On Eid and other holidays, we still have to come here and I do not take many days off, which is why the cats always get their food,” he explains.

While the court’s burly, cane-brandishing men in uniform may not seem like cat lovers, Rehman says he has never been mocked or teased by his colleagues for feeding them. At the Anti-Terrorism Courts, fellow officers acknowledge that the cats are comfortable with them only because of Rehman.

The cats don’t emerge during the day, though, when armoured police carriers and mobile units drive in and out of the premises, bearing vanloads of surly suspects for their trials. But after 2pm, when the army of lawyers and suspects has left, they sashay out and settle down near the chairs at the entrance. The cats seem entirely comfortable with the men in uniform, and are unfazed when a motorcycle drives by. “They let me pet them,” Rehman says. However, he hasn’t named the cats. His reasoning: “Why give a name to an animal that can’t talk?”

Jahanzaib, another officer on duty at the courts, says the cats live on the property because there are no residential areas nearby. “These cats also manage to hunt down food for themselves,” he said.

The seven cats who currently live on the grounds are also protective of their territory, and don’t let other cats venture in. “There’s a tomcat who comes in and he sometimes tries to fight with the cats,” Rehman says.

Rehman also tends to the cats if they are sick or injured in a fight. He relies on a mix of herbs and snake oil, which he feels work well.

As he talks, he keeps glancing over at the hungry cats that have been waiting for him to produce their meal of the day. Meow’s the word around here.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2012.