Brick Walls: Tales of Hope & Courage from Pakistan

He ignored her words and asked tensely, instead: “Who is that?” Rabia looked at where he was pointing, and her world began to collapse in slow motion like the engine of the truck she was sitting in. A black Mercedes had approached their truck from the right, and parked itself in front of them at an angle, cutting off their path. Among the ramshackle houses that lined the broken street, the car looked even bigger than it was, and somehow menacing. She squinted as a tall and hefty figure emerged; the breath left her body as she recognized it. She hadn’t seen her brother in four years but his expression was the same as ever. Hard. Callous. Angry. She slowly opened the door of the truck and climbed out, reeling with the shock of seeing him so unexpectedly.  

“Pervaiz, what are you doing here? Is everything all right?” 

“Does everything look all right? You are sitting in a dilapidated old truck without a bodyguard and you ask me what I am doing here? You have been coming here to this cursed mud hole called Malir for two months, mingling with the scum of society, and you’re asking me if everything is all right?” He was bigger than she remembered, his moustache long and thin,framing a face no mother could love. His voice was low and menacing, which she knew was a bad sign. But she had attained courage along with maturity in the last few months, and she couldn’t let his opinions go unanswered.  

“Scum? Is that what you call the people you are supposed to be serving? Have you forgotten why Abba Ji went into politics?” 

“Abba Ji was a fool,” Pervaiz pronounced harshly. “It seems that you have taken after him.” 

“Then I’m glad that I have taken after him, Pervaiz. I have found my calling. I am doing nothing wrong by helping these people. I’m doing something good. Why can’t you understand that?”

Rabia was confused as to why her brother was so incensed. She wasn’t asking him to join her. She knew that to do so would be futile. Why had he come here, she wondered? What harm was she doing anyone by volunteering at Helping Hands?  

Pervaiz was pacing angrily on the road, looking distastefully around him as if he might contract a disease. He finally turned, his face stern and unmoving, ready to deliver his judgment. “You are to return with me to the village immediately. I have decided what to do with you.”

“Are you crazy, Pervaiz?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You can’t force me to do anything. I’m an adult; I can do whatever I want.” 

Pervaiz smiled a chilling smile, and the image of a shark came impulsively to her mind. “You are so stupid, dear sister. Studying here in this sin city, Karachi, has led you to believe that you are free. I own you, do you understand? Your leash has been so long that you haven’t realized its presence around your neck. But now I am pulling you home, where you belong.”