LUMS Students protest killing of their fellow
Early morning on April 20, at about 4:00 am, a group of three drunk men, driving in ecstasy through empty lanes of DHA Lahore, lost control of their Land Cruiser and crashed into a car on the other side of the road after knocking down a lamp-post and tumbling over the road divider. The incident happened at Club Chowk near H-Block Market and resulted in the sad demise of Waheeb Alam, an undergraduate student of 2010 batch at LUMS (Innalillah-e-wa-inna-ilaihe-rajioon). Waheeb and his two friends had been out driving their Cuore to have an early morning breakfast when a speeding four-wheeler in good speed slammed into their unfortunate vehicle.
Police controlling the protest
Waheeb sccumbled to injuries, dying on the spot, while both of his friends were injured of whom one was in a serious condition. One of the accomplices driving the Cruiser fled the scene while the other two were held and later arrested by the Police. Considering the fact that the perpetrators had a very influential background, immediate steps in collection of evidence and registration of an initial FIR were delayed unnecessarily by the Police authorities. This led to a protest demonstration by hundreds of LUMS students who blocked the one-way road at Club Chowk to demand immediate filing of the FIR and securing original evidence without tempering.
Students praying for the deceased soul
Students were later joined by the LUMS Vice Chancellor, Mr. Ahmad Jan Durrani, Dean Suleman Dawood School of Business, Mr. Shaukat Brah and several other university faculty members. Negotiations with the authorities continued for about six hours during which students ignored continued requests by the Police officials to end the sit-in and move back to university campus until their demands were fulfilled.
A few important demand points included:
– An assurance by the Police that evidence should not be tempered or distorted
– Official blood sample reports of the accused be produced and shared with the students as soon as possible
– The third accomplice should be arrested within 24 hours of the incident
As the wait for blood sample reports prolonged, officials informed the protestors that the reports will be produced within two weeks time. Infuriated, the group of students peacefully moved from Club Chowk to the main Masjid Chowk blocking one-way lane in front of the masjid.
Sit-in continues at the Masjid Chowk, DHA
Later intervention of the higher authorities and visit of the PML (N) MNA from the constituency Khawaja Saad Rafiq paved way for the peaceful dispersing of the protesting crowd. The assurances made by Mr. Rafiq included a resolve to bring justice to the family of the deceased soul as soon as possible in the form of arrest of the third man, delivery of blood sample reports within an hour (at 5:00 pm) and transparency and urgency in the whole process.
PML (N) MNA, Khawaja Saad Rafiq at the spot
Overall, students of this institution made sure to stand by Waheeb’s family in their hour of grief as they peacefully campaigned and protested to get the responsible party duly charged and arrested.
We pray for our fellow Waheeb Alam’s deceased soul (May Allah grant him peace and salvation), his family and for the speedy recovery of his injured friends. Please join us in condemning use of influence and power by those who cause innocent deaths and then easily escape from the grips of law.
wehther the driver was drunk or not , it doesnt matter bcoz in anyways he has committed a crime and should be brought into the court of justice despite of his influence in Police and local government .
I remember LORD AHMED, a Pakistani and a Muslim Peer in Britain , crashed his Jaguar X type into an Audi while sending out the text messages and driving over 60mph on a motorway . A father-of-two died in this fatal crash and despite of Lord Ahmed influential personality and bare contacts in the local authorities and government , he was jailed although for very few days but even that is something which should be taken in notice that everyone is accountable according to Law so i hope that driver wouldnt be as influential as Lord Ahmed but unfortunately Pakistani Law doesnt apply on the elite class , and the only victims of its laws are middle and poor class . I highly doubt that killer would b held accountable for his act but lets hope that Mian Shahbaz Sharif takes somotive action on this accident also , only if none of his own party workers or friends and family were involved in it .
wether u accept it or not , but this is a true fact that every1 in pakistan having any elite car thinks as if he owns the road , i have experienced this thing myself and no matter how much justifications u give 4 dem but i wont b convinced coz i have witnessed this thing myself that every elite class car having high beams so that the car in front of them give em the way wthout any interruption and if they dont then they start giving bare horns and look at the driver in such a way as if he has committed a crime by not giving him a way .I always use to say wen i was a child that if i will ever get a millionaire i wont buy any elite class car rather wat i will buy is a suzuki fx or a foxy so that if sum1 gimme a horn or try to overtake wrongly then wat i would do is strait away hit my car into his car and wen he will cum out of anger , throw bloody money on his face that go and repair ur car but bare in mind not every1 having a fx or foxy is minor…so yea i hope if not me then atleast sum1 must do like dis 2 make dem ppl realize that they r not the only elites running their cars on the road and not bcoz u dun have an elite car so u wont b elite .
em not against having elite car but if Allah has blessed u with sumthing then use it rather abuse it and i m sure the ones who wud have bought their car thru halal money wud neva eva abuse it .
Last but not the least, May Allah Bless the soul of victim and inshallah if he wont get justice in this world then i am sure he will get it in the next one
May Allag give peace to Waheeb Alam and his family.
The students which organised and peacefully demonstrated to bring justice
May Allah help them. The biggest problem in pakistan is law and order to
solve issues like this where people ususally run away or give bribe or
sometime ran from the country. Unfortunate incident very days happens but
the bottom line is very one must be accountable for his actions.
Just to add:
The third person who fled the scene is SHEIKH BILAL the brother of SHEIKH WAQAS MNA PML (Q).
I am sort of an eye witness to this incident. I go for bicycle rides around fajr, and biked past the accident around/after 5 am. I saw the grey landcruiser overturned, and a small white car completely crunched. Everything above the doors was broken or sawed off. I am very happy and pleasantly surprised that two people actually survived this accident. Its hard to imagine anyone in that little car to survive(given the condition that the car was in, after the accident). The police man on the scene told me that one man had passed away, but the grey SUV occupants are safe. He also told me that the SUV occupants were found to be intoxicated. There was glass strewn all over the road which connects lums to masjid chowk.
NO sane (non intoxicated) person would come close to driving the car in that manner, breaking a pole, going over the divider and crashlanding on a car on the other side of the road. By the way, since I ride my bicycle long distance every day, I see this kind of thing happen a LOT. I see beer cans strewn on the phase 6(and sometimes ph 5 road), I see people racing like maniacs in their Mercedes/RangeRovers without regard to others’ safety or even their own. The other day, this car was sitting on a divider on Ph-5, after running into a palm tree! C’mon!
Also, I see from another report that the driver/car owner was son of a "flour mill owner". If people may remember, last year a lot of flour mill owners basically cornered the wheat/flour market and made poor people of Pakistan pay through the nose for bread. This money was made very immorally, and in cahoots with banks of Pakistan(who shamelessly financed manipulation of wheat stocks).
Why is it relevant?
The haram money made from starving/looting poor consumers in Pakistan, was used to buy an expensive vehicle which was then destroyed after consumption of haram drinks. A "full cycle" of the haram money, if you will! I would have had little regrets, if it weren’t for the death of an innocent youn man!
My prayers and deepest sympathies go out for the victims and my sincerest wishes for punishment of the perpetrators and their ilk! If the perpetrator is indeed being protected by an elected representative, this fact should be made public by main stream media. If the PML(N) party supports "Chief Justice" the person(which I do too), it should also consider supporting, "Justice" the principle!!
If the perpetrator is indeed being protected by an elected representative, this fact should be made public by main stream media. If the PML(N) party supports "Chief Justice" the person(which I do too), it should also consider supporting, "Justice" the principle!!
I second the notion in the above post. Waheeb Alam was a batch mate and a close friend of my brother. Without going into the details i am a first hand witness of the commotion the group of friends went through on hearing the news and the anger they felt on being denied the FIR. It is important that we spread the news through media, to their credit the students were able to inform and gather media outlets but the coverage provided has been minimal. Already some people on the web are trying to keep the flame alive by posting regular updates on the issue on twitter and facebook and writing on blogs. However that is just a drop in the ocean. I am sure Waheeb and his family can get justice if the media is forced to take up the mantle. We owe it to our children to not let this incident go unpunished. We have to start somewhere and claim justice where its due or else we will be leaving a legacy of lawlessness and justice denied for generations to come. I appeal to someone, anyone related to media with the power to further highlight this issue and kindly provide in depth coverage, to ensure that justice is provided where its due.
[…] reported here in a previous post, a LUMS student was killed in a road accident when the car he was traveling in was smashed by a Cruiser being driven by drunk men a few days […]