This file photo shows residents of Lyari protesting outside the Supreme Court building. Many families, including R’s, moved out of the Slaughter House in Lyari to move to safer places.
“Call your brother and ask him to visit Lyari again if he is so brave and can save your ‘honour’.” These were the directions given to a 26-year-old mother of three children by the gangsters who allegedly held her captive in the Slaughter House, Lyari, on Monday.
The woman, R*, was among those families who moved out from the Slaughter House in the last week of October after violence, threats and interference of gangsters escalated in the area. Most of the families claimed that they didn’t take their belongings when moving to safer places.
“I went to take my luggage on Monday when around five armed men came to my house in Shah Baig Lane and kidnapped me at gunpoint,” R told The Express Tribune on Thursday.
“They grilled me about my elder brother’s location and kept torturing me. They said if I didn’t tell them where my brother was, they would teach my entire family a ‘lesson’. When I still refused, they raped me.”
Later, according to R, the men called two boys and directed them to take her away to ‘15’ - the torture house in the compound. “I asked them to kill me as they had taken everything away from me already,” she said, bursting into tears. “They also showed me a bomb.”
R believes that she still had some good fortune left as one of the boys helped her get a rickshaw. She went to Korangi and then left for Sajawal district where her relatives live.
The woman’s brother, P*, is a former union council member from Lyari. According to him, the gangsters had threatened him when he was leaving the area and trying to assemble the displaced persons of the Christian dominated compound.
“The gangsters think I am trying to launch a campaign against them,” he said while speaking to The Express Tribune. “I am just trying to gather information of all my people who are residing in different parts of the city.”
If you are silent, your family is safe and if you raise your voice against injustice, then your family members are at risk, said P in frustration. “What have I done? I am just trying to raise my voice against crime and the indifferent attitude of institutions.”
Seeking justice
R’s brother and her relatives eventually convinced her to take legal action against the criminals. “I’ll go to the police and court for justice. I don’t want others to go through the same degradation as I did,” she said. Despite knowing that it would be difficult to go through medical examiation properly after a week, R approached police officials and registered an FIR against the gangsters.
“We didn’t know the medical procedure and other legal formalities,” said one of her relatives. “The top officials have promised us of their support. They have also assured us that the culprits would be arrested. They have asked the displaced families to return back, saying that they will give protection to the Christian families.” He believes, however, that it is not possible to return to Lyari now.
When contacted by The Express Tribune, Lyari SSP Shah Nawaz said that the police were giving R and her family protection and also looking into the allegations. “We will even conduct a raid if we have to.”
*Names changed to protect privacy
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2013.
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