Dear and near ones that I lost to Earthquake
By Makhdoom Babar
Editor-in-Chief

THE deadly earthquake that hit Pakistan on Saturday morning was something that no one ever even thought of. It separated thousands from their dear and near ones. Until Monday night some 40,000 to 45,000 causalities had been calculated through different sources. Parents have lost their children, children have lost their parents; wives lost husbands and were deprived of their spouses; brothers lost their beloved sisters and sisters lost their loving brothers and yes friends lost their friends, and they all lost them forever!
Thousands already know that they have lost their dear and near ones yet thousands are still in agony, as they don't know if their dear ones are still alive or dead as many of them are either completely missing or reported to be under the mud or rubble.
I am one of those who lost their dear and near ones. I am still in a condition of shock and cannot believe that I have actually lost them like this. The most astonishing fact is that I don't know as to how long will the list of those I have lost, go with the passage of time.
Ms. Shireen Waheed (Minister for Social Welfare; Azad Kashmir) Shireen was my class fellow at the National Defense College where we together attended the high profile National Security Workshop for about three months. In the NDC classroom, Shireen used to sit just next to me and thus we often used to exchange notes and comments. Shireen would often reach late to the college and always feel very embarrassed. One day, when she was coming out of her car with Azad Kashmir's national flag flying on it, I got her. "Why are you late almost everyday while you have the national flag on your car that can get you a free way and uninterrupted drive to the college throughout?" I questioned her. "You know why am I often late? Because I also am a goddamn Minister and have to work late in the night for the Ministry as I am always busy here at the NDC in the day hours", she replied with a sweet and innocent smile. The other thing that made us all laugh everyday was that she always forgot to power-off her mobile phone before entering the class. The mobile phone would soon start ringing during the lecture and then she would launch a search operation for her phone that was always lost somewhere in her beautiful, handmade Kashmiri handbag. The phone would continue to ring and she would continue to search and class would continue to laugh silently and it would happen almost every day. Innocent Shireen would then go out of the classroom, search out her phone from her handbag and power it off and return to the classroom.
The last time I met her was when I went to Muzaffarabad at the launch of Kashmir Bus Service a few months back. I found her as innocent, sweet and efficient as she was last year at the National Defence College. Just last month Shireen called me on my mobile and complained that my newspaper was not giving her much coverage. She fought with me in a very sweet manner over the issue, using the privilege of a friend and an ex-classmate. I laughed and assured her of ample coverage in future. She also invited me to visit Kashmir and meet her family, as the weather was perfect for a visit to that area. I promised her, though I knew I wouldn't be able to make it due to my hectic schedule here.
On Saturday, when reports arrived about the tremor devastation in Kashmir, I straightaway dialed her phone number to get an update from her. But I could not establish any contact as phone lines were destroyed. I kept trying until on Sunday afternoon I was informed that Shireen, the AJK Minister, along with her entire family, was buried alive at her residence. Alas! May God bless her and her family members' souls?
AMY & SPEEDSTER Amy; My beautiful fluffy black skinned Iranian cat and Speedster; my white Arabian horse. Two of my best friends! My association with Amy was just a couple of months old, gifted to me by a friend in the diplomatic corp., I named Amy after a friend's name while Speedster's association with me was some 15 years old. He was the true companion of my loneliness. I not only used to ride on him but we used to talk also. The moment I would reach my farmhouse at my village, Speedster would produce a very weird sound, a sound that he would only produce to express his happiness. When I would go near him, he would place his mouth on my arms and produce the sound again. Speedster and I have been traveling to many places in the area and, went for hunting many times but he never behaved like a tired horse. Speedster and I won many friendly horse races from my cousins and friends at my village and he won all of them like a real speedster. However, during my last visit to my village, I found him to be a bit tired. My farm manager and caretaker Riaz jokingly said that Speedster had gone old and that's why he was not running on the right pace and always looked tired.
On the other hand, Amy, when came to me, was just a month old cute kitten. Since I am at home for a very little time, I asked my cook and watchman to look after her. Sooner, I started spending time with her. I bought some cat food for her and started feeding her myself. Within a few days, Amy became a part of my life. When I would reach home, she would straightaway dash to my room, start kissing and licking my feet and then jump over to my bed and then begin hopping here and there to appease me. Then in the morning she would repeat it and while I would get ready to go to the office, she would leave the room and go to the car porch and hide herself over the back of my room's air conditioner. Then, when I would open the door of my car, she would jump into it-ready to go to the office with me. Then I would pull her out and hand her over to my chef. It was just last week that my farms' manager came to Islamabad from my village for some work. In the night he asked me that I should send Amy to village with him for a few days because she was getting weaker and would get better if could live in fresh air and have fresh and pure milk at the village for a few days. I agreed and he took her away. Just on Friday I inquired about Amy from him on phone and he told me that she was going great and had also developed very cordial ties with Speedster and other pets at the Farmhouse. However on Sunday evening, when phone lines to my village were restored, my manager called me and had nothing else to tell but the most tragic news that both Amy and Speedsters were no more. They were placed in a big room, spared for pets and other animals when the old village room collapsed due to severe shocks of the earthquake and were buried under the debris and by the time the debris was removed, they had already died. Alas-Amy is no more and so is my dear friend Speedster. It is really unbelievable for me that Amy, who came to my life for a very short time-went away like this and Speedster, who remained in my life for about 15 long years, also went in a flash without even saying goodbye. But the life goes on!
Riz or Rizwan: Rizwan, commonly known as Riz amongst the peers, met me some seven years back at a common friend's cocktail. At that time he was working as an executive with a cellular phone company. Later he joined another multinational and proceeded abroad. Just 2 years back, he came back to Pakistan and met me. He told me that his company had promoted him and had given him an important position at the Islamabad office and had provided him the accommodation at Margalla Towers. After a few weeks of settling down, Riz started socializing and hosting cocktails every now and then. Good at nature, ever smiling and a great joke teller, Riz would always make his friends laugh to their hearts. Though I hardly attended his cocktails due to time clashes between my work and his party hours, yet I kept visiting him frequently and we have been eating out. Just last week when he invited me on lunch at Pizza Hut, he said that he was planning to get married by the end of the year as he was sick of living alone. I said what was the hurry about that he wanted to get married just within a couple of months. He said that he had the feeling that he was about to be posted to Germany by the start of next year. So he wanted to get married before that. I asked him if he had selected some girl? Upon this, he started blushing and said 'Yes' but did not tell me her name and kept smiling with a blushing face. I had planned to get the name of her out of him on Sunday. I told him that I'll be visiting him as I had to attend an Iftar Dinner at Margalla Towers on Sunday. But I never thought that he would be no more by Sunday. Alas! Riz is no more there to make his friends laugh through his sweet jokes and gestures; he is no more there to appease his friends and he is no more there to marry his beloved whom he had selected to be his life partner.
Adil & Ali: I came across Adil some 3 years back. He used to work with a multinational electronics company as media advisor. He approached me actually, as he wanted his company's news to be published in my newspaper with ample space. The way he approached me and the way he conducted his first meeting with me, I found him to be a true professional. Later we became good friends as I found him to be a very interesting and sincere person. Adil was also very much into socializing and would keep hosting parties, banquets and cocktails every now and then. Like Riz, he was also living alone and planning to get married next year. Adil had a great love for animals, specially dogs, cats and horses. When I told him about my farmhouse and my Speedster, he would always ask me to take him to my farmhouse. He was a very jolly fellow with an ever-smiling face. Anyone would have hardly seen him in a bad mood, whatever the circumstances might be. One day, he introduced me to his colleague Ali. Ali was just like Adil and was posted at Karachi in the same organization. Ali used to visit Islamabad frequently (as he had his girlfriend here) and while in Islamabad, he always preferred to stay at Adil's, though he had the privilege of staying at any five-star hotel on company's expenses. Ali was also interested in visiting my farmhouse. On Thursday, Adil called me and informed me that Ali was also coming for a weeklong vacation and since his girlfriend was out of Pakistan, he would be having enough time for us. So we should plan our trip to my farmhouse. I promised to take them on any day during the week. When Ali arrived Friday night, he also rang me and asked me to join them at dinner at our favorite restaurant. I apologized and regretted, as I was busy in my editorial work. Alas! Both are no more now; their dead bodies were recovered from the rubble after 36 hours.
Jess Jesse or Jasmine: Jasmine, commonly known as Jess or Jesse amongst friends, met me some three years back at a reception hosted by a foreign airline as she was working with that airline. We had a little chat at the party and exchanged our name cards. After a couple of days, Jasmine called me on my mobile and invited me over a cocktail that she was hosting for friends at her residence. Since my schedule was free that evening, I accepted the invitation. At her cocktail party, I met many of her friends, most of them being foreigners. She introduced me to all of her friends and I found all of them to be very decent and jolly. During the party, when I asked Jasmine as to where were her other family members, she told me that she was living alone with her maid servant as her parents were settled abroad and even she had come to Pakistan only three or four years back. She told me that she had broken her engagement because her fiancé was not being fair to her. That night I found her to be very down and depressed.
I tried to cheer her up and we became very good friends later on. Jess had a special love for flowers and had a lot of flowerpots in her apartment's balcony and windows. Jess was a soft-spoken good-natured girl, always trying to help and assist her friends. She would always find some opportunity to arrange a get-together of friends. However, since the past one year or so, Jess and I went on some distance due to some misunderstanding. But we were trying to make up once again. She had invited me and other friends over an Iftar Dinner at her place on Sunday. But she didn't know that she wouldn't be there in this world by Sunday. Alas! Jesse is no more. Her dead body was recovered from the rubble after some 40 hours. I still can't believe that I won't be able to see her ever again. Her maidservant's body is yet to be recovered.
Dr. Jaffar Rehman: Dr. Jaffar Rehman was a professor at a local private university, heading the department of Computer Sciences. I met him at the convocation of his university. What a thorough gentleman and a kind teacher. Dr. Jaffer remained in touch with me on the phone and invited me many times to his residence. We met at many other occasions and just last week I asked him if he could write a weekly column for my newspaper about computer science which he agreed to. His first column was to be received by us on the fateful Saturday and to be published in Sunday's edition. Alas! Dr. Jaffar, along with his daughters Humera, Murryam and her three months little one, his wife Amina and maidservant Alisha, were buried under the debris and all of them died. Alas! Dr. Sahib is no more. These are those about whose whereabouts I know so far. I don't know that what the next moment is going to bring for me. What more is still there waiting for me and how many more dear and near ones have I lost already but don't know as yet. One cannot imagine as to how one should be feeling if he has to listen to the news of the expiry of as many dear and near ones in just one day and that too, in different parts of the country! How terrible is it to see the dead bodies of dear and near ones in one day! These are the emotional devastations that such calamities do cause apart from the material devastations. This earthquake has snatched a number of dear and near ones from many and many are still hoping for the best!