Humans of Jhelum: Ghulam Rasool Dar

If nicknames came from the most frequently used word by someone in his speech, Ghulam Rasool Dar would have been Ji Jaan Ji. Running a medium sized bicycle shop on a busy road near Bilal Town Jhelum, Dar is keeping the art of decency alive at a work place where young mechanics are

usually called Oye Chotay idher aa. Dar does not employ chotay, instead he has a team of workers who are called with not only their names but also with a ji. So Ibrar is Ibrar Jee and Nauman is Nauman Jee.
Dar makes a client when he or she is usually 3 or 4 years old. The toddler which buys a tricycle from his shop also buys a full sized mountain bike from him. He has a sharp memory.
The census department in Jhelum may not know the number of kids a person has in Dar’s area, but he surely knows that how many kids were born in a family and which kid used the elder siblings’ bicycle. Dar feels proud in the fact that his product served two siblings because of its durability.
Guests are treated at the shop with homemade tea, hot jaleebi from a neighbouring and samosas.

Bride with hammer overpowers armed robber in violent robbery

I am a firearm enthusiast and lawyer who deals with criminal cases. Not a day passes when I don’t talk about guns with friends or don’t read about guns used in crimes. I keenly read instances where guns have been used in self defense.
Last night in Jhelum, a robbery attempt was foiled in a house where a wedding was taking place. All the family members of the house had left for the rusm-e-hina except five people. They were bride, her father, brother and his wife, and a young man. They were also about to leave for the nearby large house where mehndi was about to take place.
The door bell rang. The inmates answered the bell through an intercom and learnt that some ‘wedding guests’ had arrived at the main gate. The father and the son went downstairs to receive them. As soon as the opened the gate, the three ‘guests’ tried to rush inside the house. The father and the son was quick to apprehend the danger. They jumped on the robbers and caught hold of them, while the third robber had made his way inside. A scuffle broke outside the house between the robbers and the brave father and the son. It started with fists and blows with the scale tilting against the robbers.
Sensing the failure, one robber fired three shots on the father, which hit him on calf, knee joint and thigh.
Meanwhile, the automatic door had locked itself and was separating the two robbers from the third robber who had gone inside the house. The fire shots had alerted the residents of the house. When the robber entered the living quarters, a lady of the house attacked him with a hammer which a carpenter had left in the house. The carpenter had come to repair a bed in afternoon and forgot his tool. Repeated hammer blows knocked the robber down. He was overpowered by two ladies, including the bride, and the young man. The robber was found carrying two chambered TTs.
The robbers outside the house decided to run away but they wanted to take along their third partner in crime. Unable to open the door with force, they fired at the steel door with an automatic assault rifle (44 bore) to break open the lock. Failing to do so, they ran away.
The police and rescue team were quick to reach the crime scene. The father was immediately shifted to the hospital and the police arrested the semi conscious robber from inside the house. He was found to be a fugitive from law since 1996 and was an accused in 3 murders and countless robberies. He led the police to his den where police arrested the other two robbers along with one accomplice.

Real godfather: Raja Afzal's profile

Master of all!

The white trimmed beard and rectangular spectacles hide much of the expressions of 70-year-old politician Raja Muhammad Afzal. He has remained the member of the National Assembly (MNA) for three times (1988, 1993, 1997), a senator and twice mayor of the city.
His two sons are MNAs from Jhelum. Raja Afzal shares all the vices of politicians of a third world country, but he is invincible in elections. I have been monitoring his way of politics for the last one year. I have met him thrice on various occasions.
He has an elephant’s memory. You meet him once and he remembers it forever. He knows the ancestors, relatives, traits of his voters and opponents. He is not a graduate but his general knowledge is not less than anyone.
Raja can start conversation with anyone on any topic. He knows about universities, education and grading systems like an education consultant. I have seen him talking about nervous system, to a person whose brother recently underwent the spinal cord surgery.
He has a large public contact. Such is his appetite to remain public that his voter can meet him at any time, but his family members have to seek an appointment from him before meeting. You will find all sort of people at his house from 12pm to 2am. There is no receptionist, no waiting queue and no protocol. A person who comes on a brand new land cruiser sits on the same couch where a poor mechanic with dirty clothes is sitting.
The meeting room in his house is nothing but Raja Muhammad Afzal’s bedroom. You just go and find a place on the couch. He sees you and nods a hello, while he is busy on telephone. Raja Afzal’s longtime driver is also his personal assistant now.
When I reached his place it was around 9pm on January 3. People were leaving and entering his house. There was no contingent of AK-47 totting guards, no don’t disturb signs and no receptionist to stop you from meeting him.
We went straight to his bedroom and found him sitting on a chair and talking to someone on telephone. The people of his constituency had brought their problems to him. One of the person sitting on his bed had a monitory dispute in Italy. He wanted Raja Afzal’s intervention in the matter. The person was uneducated and was talking in a high pitched voice. Raja Afzal remained cool and listened to his problem while taping his fingers at the end of the arm rest. The ex-MNA instructed his assistant about the man’s problem. The man left, praying for him. Next came a high ranking district government employee. He had some transfer and posting issue, which was promised to be resolved. Similarly, people came with their problems and went with a solution or surety that their Raja Afzal will take personal interest to solve their problem.
I was impressed with his amazing stamina to bear all sorts of people. His face rarely expressed anger, but you find him thumping his fingers rapidly on the arm rest of the chair in situations where he is expected to loose his temper.
His driver was telling someone that today they had attended two weddings and offered condolences at three far off places of the district. With an ageing body and ailing health, it needs a lot of guts to travel that much.
Raja Afzal does not seek any monetary consideration from the people whose issues he has resolved. All he wants a favour in return. The person with an Italian money dispute was expected to elect him again. The government employee was expected to favour Raja Afzal’s supporters who is return were expected to elect him again.
His two MNA sons had left for Islamabad to attend a session of the National Assembly. He also telephoned them a couple of times, instructing them to solve the problems of the voters.
Our family has never voted for him. My father has had remained his staunch opponent. I casually showed my admiration for a columnist/politician of the PML-N and Raja Afzal offered me an interview with him. Raja Afzal never misses an opportunity to win people and that is the reason behind his political invincibility.
PS: Raja has not spoken on any significant issue during his three tenures in the National Assembly nor he has any private bill on his credit. He may be delivering to his voters but miserably failed to deliver to his constituency. 

Book review: Access to justice in Pakistan

I came across this book one winter night in Islamabad in the International Islamic University hostel. It was placed on a friend's study table. The book looks said that it was not opened even once.
I have this habit of skimming any new book that I come across instead of checking the index or reading its preface. Many of my friends have ridiculed me when I do it at a book fair. I also skimmed through various chapters of this book with dreary eyes before crashing on the bed.
The book is written in an astonishing simple language - something very rare in this part of the Subcontinent and rarest when it comes to law. Almost all law books are written with obsolete vocabulary, but this book is an exception.  Each chapter of this book is independent of the other. No matter in which order you read this book, every chapter makes sense in the context of every other chapter.
The book has many chapters but it can be divided into three parts. First is introductory, second deals with criminal law and the third relates to civil litigation.
My dad's colleague and now a judge of high court once told me that everything thing in Pakistani law is written somewhere and you have to find where it is. I took his comment lightly but reading the book made me realise that he was correct. The book tells the reader about all the procedure practiced in the courts and the statutes which deal with it.
This book contains everything a lawyer needs to know and is the result of years of hard work of the writer.
The book is equally good for lawyers, journalists, law students and litigants. The beauty of simple language, detailed research, quoting of case law makes this book a ready tool for everyone even remotely connected with the law.
Now something about the writer. Fazal Karim has a very humble background. He belongs from a Jatt family of Jhelum. Education and Jatts are like water and crude oil as they can never mix. Fazal Karim started his career as a stenographer to the district judge of Jhelum and ended as being the judge of the Supreme Court. He has remained honest throughout his career.
I didn't know that he was from Jhelum until I read almost half of the book. I asked my father about him. My dad told about Karim's honesty, quoting a former colleague of the retired justice. The justice was an introvert person. All of his colleagues were neck deep in taking bribes.
They would buy milk and some bakery items from the money pooled from their daily bribes and would feast on it the whole day, but Karim would not join them. He would not even sit with them in his spare time. He was seen either doing his official work or reading some book in spare time.
I can safely assume that he did his LLB during his clerical job and joined the judiciary at its lowest tier. His hard work and quest to learn took him all the way to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. No other judge of the superior courts has such a humble beginning.
The Book is published by Pakistan Law House. The cover price is Rs 1,200. The publisher sells it for Rs 800.