Human shield: In her arms

KARACHI: The moment the criminal’s index finger wrapped around the trigger for a second time to shoot sub-inspector Aftab Qayyum again, his wife lunged in front of him. The two criminals were so shocked to see her protecting her husband in this manner that they left immediately. The second shot never came. But the first one had pierced through Qayyum’s chest and he passed away on the spot – right in front of Nuzhat’s eyes at Nagan Chowrangi on February 17. “I used to tell him that the finger prints he collects and the investigation he does might one day land him in trouble,” says the devastated Nuzhat. “He never listened. He always told me to stop being scared and to be brave.” That fateful evening, two clean-shaved men riding a bike came towards them, shot him without saying anything. Nuzhat, for all her bravery, couldn’t save her husband. Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2014.