Love beyond a boundary

Book review of Hamid: The Story of My Captivity, Survival and Freedom

Why would an Indian man put his own life in danger to secure the freedom of a Pakistani woman he has never met? This is perhaps a silly question to ask in the context of a budding online romance where emotion clouds reason and love truly seems invincible. It is a pertinent line of enquiry, however, for officials paid to gather intelligence, enforce laws, defend their country from security threats, and treat any suspects in the harshest possible manner.

Hamid: The Story of My Captivity, Survival and Freedom is a book about an Indian man who took the drastic step of entering Pakistan via Afghanistan without any legal documents because he wanted to save a Pakistani woman from a forced marriage. Her brother had killed another boy, and the jirga of Pashtun elders had decided that the bereaved family would be compensated in the form of a bride from the perpetrator’s family under the wani custom.

The protagonist in this cautionary tale is one of the authors — Hamid Ansari. He worked at a multinational company in Mumbai and also ran a wallet manufacturing business of his own when he met Fiza, a Pakistani woman from Kohat, on an online chat platform. She was studying to be a teacher. They were in the early stages of their courtship when their world began to fall apart. She wanted him to protect her from the humiliation of getting married to a stranger. Ansari rushed to her rescue.

It turned out to be the biggest mistake of his life. The book maps out how he knocked on several doors to ensure her well-being. When she became incommunicado, he traced her whereabouts with the help of sympathetic locals. His attempts to get a visa for Pakistan amounted to nothing, so he followed the advice of a Pakistani journalist and sneaked into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the border crossing at Torkham. This perilous journey, narrated with dramatic effect, is reminiscent of Nemat Sadat’s novel The Carpet Weaver (2019).

Unfortunately, the journalist, who pretended to be a well-wisher, was looking to make some easy money. He imagined that the love-struck Indian man would arrive with a lot of cash in hand. When these hopes were crushed, he set up a trap that Ansari would never have conceived of even in his wildest dreams. The Pakistani authorities labelled him an Indian spy. He had to spend six years in jail from 2012 to 2018, away from his family and his country. Fiza had been forcibly married even before Ansari set foot in Pakistan but he was kept in the dark.

Hamid: The Story of My Captivity, Survival and Freedom

Authors: Hamid Ansari with Geeta Mohan

Publisher: Ebury Press

Pages: 376; Price: Rs 399

Ansari writes, “While my screams, sobs, appeals and pleadings fell on the deaf ears of Pakistani officials during numerous interrogation sessions, I vowed to scream out the truth one day, to make sure the world heard me when I was free. I vowed to write my story once I was released.” He was not allowed to access pen and paper during most of his time as a prisoner, so he had to rely on mental notes and write on dusty prison walls with nails in a code language he invented.

His co-author is Geeta Mohan, an Indian journalist who specialises in reporting on international affairs and diplomacy. She had been following Ansari’s case ever since it came to light, and made it a point to meet his parents — Fauzia and Nehal — on their trips to Delhi. In her introduction, she writes, “I was inspired and honoured to be a part of the story as I witnessed the struggle of this couple, who overcame emotional, financial, societal and legal pressures and took their fight across the country.”

Ansari was tortured in a variety of ways. Apart from long periods of solitary confinement, he was at the receiving end of physical violence from Pakistani officials. They hit him with metal rods, belts and shoes. They made him strip to check if he was circumcised. Even that did not convince them that he was Muslim. When Ansari requested permission to offer Friday prayers, they told him that Indian Muslims are not real Muslims. As someone who held on to his faith for comfort and hope, this cruelty was too much for him to bear.

The trust he placed in Allah was unshakeable, despite all the suffering he had to endure. He realised his mistake, and apologised for it, but he was unwilling to bow down before bullies who wanted to implicate him under false charges of espionage. Gradually, help started pouring in. Zeenat Shehzadi, a Pakistani journalist, believed that Ansari was being made to pay for a crime that he had not committed. She went out of her way to conduct investigations, and collect material that would prove Ansari’s innocence in court.

This book is a testament to the courage and persistence of Shehzadi, who felt that it was her duty to speak truth to power and assist a helpless mother across the border. Her valiant fight for justice was not appreciated by the Pakistani establishment, so she was abducted. Her family did not hear from her for a long time before she returned. Her brother could not deal with the absence, so he took his own life. However, Shehzadi’s solid documentation enabled Pakistani lawyers Qazi Anwar and Rukhshanda Naz to secure Ansari’s release.

The biggest takeaway from this remarkable book, which will move even the most cold-hearted person to tears, is that there are people in this world who are shining examples of integrity. They could be diplomats, journalists, ministers, lawyers, activists or even prisoners but they choose humanity over nationality when they see a person who is being treated unjustly and deserves kindness. Ansari is back in India because of their unwavering dedication to their principles, and because his mother moved heaven and earth to make it possible.