The Vigilantes
Nadeem was lazily walking towards his uncle's house with bread for afternoon tea his aunt had asked him to get.
"Asalamu Alaikum",he said as he stepped in the kitchen cum dinning room.
"Wa alaikum salam" replied his uncle Bashir. Nadeem put the bread aside and a darted towards his little cousin Burhan. Nadeem caught Burhan by surprise and started tickling him which he enjoyed and detested at the same time.
Burhan was cute and weighed little. Also unlike the other kids of his age he would never cry when irked so he was loved and enjoyed a lot of attention from everyone in the family. Other than that he had this peculiar habit of repeating the words he would hear an elder say in a situation in coming similar situations.
Last week his sister accidentally dropped a glass of water and their mother chided her with "Che kiyazi chui neh hess rozaan". A couple of days later something similar was done by the mother herself and everyone laughed when Burhan said "Che kiyazi chui neh hess rozaan".
"Have some tea" ,said Nadeem's aunt
"No, I just had my tea I will go now" he said taking down Burhan from his shoulders
"Wait I will show you something" said Bashir.
Bashir played a video on his phone and showed it to Nadeem. Burhan also joined to watch.
It was a video of about half a dozen grown-up naked men ,except for the underwears,their hands tied behind their backs.
The men where being beaten up by upto three young fellows one was holding a gun another a stick.
They were crying, pleading to their capitvators in Urdu with a thick Kashmiri accent.
"Ataai Ataai Ataai"
"Mouji Mouji"
"Aaj ke baadh kabhi nahi karenge"
Painful cries like that of a kid.
"Waaai Waaai Waaai"
"Aaj ke baadh main paanch waqt nimaaz parunga"
"Maafi dedo saahib"
What have they done? asked Nadeem.
"They are stoners or I think they were drinking." said Bashir.
Nadeem's face was a mixture of anger, anguish,anxiety,disgust mostly anger. Bashir picked up his expressions and said,"Che Maa aaawui yuhundh insaaf,asul haa korhekh(Are you feeling sorry for them they deserved it)"
Nadeem was taken aback. He admired his uncle because of his knowledge, wisdom and intelligence.He couldn't believe how an educated person can think like this.He left without saying anything.He went to his room and beat the life out of his pillow. He worried about how future would be with people like his uncle being okay with mob justice. He was upset for a long time after that.
Nadeem visited his uncle after a month again,busy with exams as he had been.His uncle was watching TV. Burhan jumped into his arms for a hug. Bashir enquired about Nadeem's exams and his parents health then the conversation shifted gears from apple varieties to Shahrukh Khan through cricket and Muslim Spain. Then Bashir got a call which he received with a smile but soon his expression changed to worry.
As soon as he hung up Bashir changed from Star Sports to a news channel. Nadeem understood what the call was about.He could see Noor Kaak and his two sons on the TV. Even though the video was not good quality but he could identify his relatives. Noor Mohammad was his mother's and Uncle Bashir's paternal uncle who was into diary business and had migrated to another small town for that.So the kids of Burhan's age in the family didn't know him or other relatives from his family.
The video showed Noor Mohammad with a bleeding forehead. His face showed no emotion as if he no longer cared what would happen. He was being slapped and kicked by vigilantes.
Arshad and Javid both tall and muscular were getting it a lot harder. Javid lay unconscious blood dripping from his beard. A visibly frustrated person wearing a pink shirt kept on using a belt on him like a whip. Arshad was trying to fight back. One of the vigilantes was holding him by his beard and he inturn was holding his ear but behind him were a dozen men pounding him with fists.
Nadeem's face was same as it was a month back when he was watching a videos of vigilantes of a different kind.He thought he would use this opportunity to convey something to his uncle but stopped as he felt it was not the right time. But Burhan said what Nadeem could not say, "Che Maa aaawui yuhundh insaaf,asul haa korhekh" .
Nadeem looked into his uncle's eyes but was disappointed to see Burhan's words having no effect on him.
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