The Fallen Widow

26. Punishment without Trial

News travelled like wildfire in the haveli about the person who plotted the fake bomb. Events spread tumult in all quarters of the haveli revealing various shades of treason. First, it was Allah Dita. Dilawar-Baksh summoned Allah Ditta to answer for his son, Nadeem's deceit. A red face Dilawar-Baksh roared at Allah Ditta waving his fists.
"Your family have served this haveli for generations. I expected better from your son! When he saw the shoes, why didn't he admit they were his? How can we trust you or your son?"
Allah Ditta hung his head in shame. After weaving years of loyalty and trust, Nadeem's one act called their loyalty into disrepute.
"Nadeem would have prevented the attack on Muzaamil! I will be disgraced when the panachayat learn that it was my household who plotted the bomb! My loyal workforce!" Dilawar-Baksh spat onto the ground in anger. "I can't trust you nor your family any longer! Get out of my face."

Next, it was Malikah. She ran to Shah-Nawaz who was in the bettak with their mother discussing the tense subject. She ran to Shah-Nawaz and grabbed his arm in panic.
"Tell me it isn't true. Tell me it's a lie." She stood between her mother and Shah-Nawaz forcing him to look at her. Shah-Nawaz withdrew his arm from her desperate hold.
"I don't believe it, Shah-Nawaz."
"Don't get involved Malaikah." Shah-Nawaz stepped away and made his way to the mirror adjusting his turban.
"Please! Shah Nawaz. I know you're angry with baba, don't take it out on Meh'r-Bano. Whatever she did she must have a reason." She followed closely behind.
"Listen to me-" She tugged his arm to make him face her. "You are not baba. You are not cruel like him." Maliakah glanced at her mother before she spoke.
"You were bought up by Dai-ama. Dai- ama breast fed for nearly two years in her lap. You were nurtured with loved and compassion. You are not like baba." She pressed hoping he would meet her gaze. "I need Meh'r-Bano. The children need her. You can't-"
"Don't you dare!" He raised his finger at her, his eyes narrow with rage and lines across his forehead.
"Don't use the children to absolve the teacher from her lies and deceit. You don't know her. That woman may seem innocent but she's deceptive."
Shahgul was satisfied with Shah-Nawaz's decision. The rage in his eyes ironed over her worries. Shah-Nawaz shrugged Malaikah's cries off and made his way into door when Shahgul stopped him.
"Where are you going now, beta?"
"To the city-" He announced, his face firm like death. "-to finish what I started." Shah Nawaz marched towards the staircase and flung the length of his shawl over his chest.
In the courtyard he gave Uzayr his orders.
"Get the cars, the weapons and the guards ready. We're going to the city."
Uzayr shook his head with a skip in his step.
"Did you get their address? Did Wajahat find them?" asked Shah-Nawaz
"Yes!" Uzayr slung the strap of his Kalashnikov over his shoulder. "We have placed two men at their door. They are reporting to Wajahat Ali as we speak."
Shah-Nawaz stood near the fountain and gazed back at his haveli. The old man's cries, Meh'r-Bano's shrieks and her wide eyes glared back at him. Once again, his body charged with rage.
"Get everything ready. I have something to do." Shah-Nawaz marched towards his haveli. It was time to face the deceitful teacher. 

****

Time transcended into a long dark blur in the holding room. A small window with prison bars emitted a weak shady light into the room. Meh'r-Bano's eyes adjusted to the dark and she could make out the broken kat, straw weaved baskets piled into a corner of the room. She buried her head into her knees coughing from the dust. Her thoughts and worries were with baba. He was labelled a traitor, what would they do to him?
Moments later, when the door he locked clicked, Meh'r-Bano shuffled on the floor coughing from the collection of dust. She checked if she had her inhaler in her pocket once again. After two puffs she had to wait to take the next puffs and worried it'll be empty. The door opened with Shah-Nawaz's mountain size shadow blocking the light. Meh'r-Bano heart pounded in fear. With her palms on the dusty ground, she shuffled her body back from his threatening shadow. 

Shah-Nawaz looked down at her frame and just about made her out. He took a deep breath and ran his left hand over his moustache regulating his pulsating heartbeat. Meh'r-Bano was a mystery the moment he the sunlight reflected into the glimmer of her emerald eyes at the rally. Veiled in secrets, she'd ensnared him into a web of lies. The moment he'd uncover a lie, she would lead him deeper into another lie. How could he trust what she had to say? The momentum shifted from the inauguration towards Meh'r-Bano.
"You're smart. You outsiders, I'll give you that." He began in a casual tone lulling her into a false sense of security.
"Well read. Educated. You enter Jahanpur, sowing the seeds of treason in the guise of education." He narrowed his eyes watching her simper in the corner of the dark room lit by the sharp light from the corridor.
"Secretly teaching  children at the quarry, then entering the haveli to be close to my nephew and niece."
With her fists into balls, she held them against her chest as a defence. The room dwarfed filled with his presence.
"What did you do to baba?" She sniffed. "It's not his fault. Please-"
Shah-Nawaz kneeled down inches away from her. "You should be worried about your own fate, Meh'r-Bano -or Hoorayn."
Beads of sweat trickled down Meh'r-Bano's back.
"You outsiders, you corrupt the system." His tone now grave and threatening. The sharp scent of sandalwood cologne filled Meh'r-Bano's lungs as she took a deep breath.
"Or you're a hero, saving an old man. Putting your life on the line."
"Please-forgive me. Don't blame him. I'll take the fine." Determined to protect Baba, Meh'r-Bano bravely shouldered Baba's fine.
Shah-Nawaz stood up and scoffed with malice. "Do you earn enough to take his fine? Does your mechanic fix hundreds of types every day?"
Meh'r-Bano climbed to her feet ready to put his case forward. This was her last chance to have her say and to protect baba.
"He can't afford it Choudhary Saab. Please have mercy."
Shah Nawaz grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him, his finger digging into her arm. She gasped in pain.
"Now, begin from the start- how did you end up in the rally and with those shoes."
Meh'r-Bano stuttered as he glowered at the whites of her eyes. His intense energy rushed through her.
"Now!" He roared. "Tell me!"
"I broke it!"
"Lie!" His grasp tightened; his warm breaths burned the tip of her nose.
"I lost my sandal."
"How?" He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed her.
"He took it?"
"Who?" he shook her.
"Choudhary Azaad!" She cried.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Stop lying!" He pushed her back against the cupboard thrusting her hips forward and she leaned back unsteady on her toes. She placed her hands on the cupboard to maintain her balance. He mounted her with his left arm over her head and right arm by her waist.
"Tell me!"
"It's the truth, Choudhary Saab." Her wide eyes filled with tears. "He's been following me around the river every Friday. He's always there. He chased me in the fields, and I fled. That day I saw him in the haveli and he grabbed my foot. My sandal fell and he took it. He didn't give it back." Tears streamed down her check.
"Why would he take your sandal?" He was now closer that the air which  struggle to get past between them.
"I don't know. You should ask Choudhary Azaad."
"He is no Choudhary. It's Azaad." He punched the wall.
Meh'r-Bano lowered her gaze focusing on the red jewels beads on his kurtha, his eyes were painfully  sharp tearing into her.
"That guard I pointed to, saw me. He was helpful and he gave me his shoes and told me to buy a new pair. He only helped me. I went to grand bazaar but then there was the rally."
"And you decided to join it?"
"I was intrigued-"
"Look at me when I'm asking you." He tapped under her chin prompting her to look him in the eyes. She stared into his grey gaze and lost her train of thought.
"Well-"
"I....I.....I don't know. I just went with it. I didn't know what would be said."
"You agreed with what was being said?"
"No."
"Stop lying." He smacked the wall.
"Yes! The speaker was weak. He ran away, but yes I agreed with him." She lifted her hands to protect her face fearing he'd hit her and closed her eyes tight. Waiting. There was nothing. Instead, his steel like eyes bore into her.
"So, you thought to spread dissent."
"No! Baba fell at your feet, you kicked him away-"
"It was you. It was you, that I saw." Since the first time he saw her, he couldn't forgot those eyes.
"Yes. That was the first time I saw you. He said he can't afford the fine so I –"
"You?"
"I wanted to help his evade the fine. I thought-"
"Plant a bomb and blame my uncle?"
"No!" She cried out. "I just needed a diversion and then we ran. I promise it wasn't anything sinister, Choudhary Saab." She raised her hands ready to plead by touching his hand, his arm but instead recoiled.
"Baba is innocent. All he wanted was to go home."
Shah Nawaz shifted his weight onto his back foot and backed into the room. "From the moment I saw you – I knew it-outsiders are always trouble. We have a system here, it works. Don't play with fire."
"A system of making kids work, beating old men until they die and fining the poor." She snapped releasing the build up anger. Her body shivered knowing it was foolish to answer Shah-Nawaz as his prisoner, but her heart was broken after watching baba being beaten up. The blood dried on her hands and clothes weighing her conscious.
"What kind of system is this?" She pushed passed the fear rising in her chest held her bloody dupatta out to him.
"This is what you brutal people do. You target the poor and vulnerable. So go ahead, Do what you want! Hit me, beat me." She neared him. "But can't kill my spirit."
Rage charged his body and he grabbed her agile, long neck with his large, strange left hand and pushed her against the cupboard. Shah-Nawaz chocked her to weaken her spirit with fear.
"That's where you're wrong Hoorayn-" He neared his face closer to her ear. "I'm not going to kill your spirit. I'm going to crush your spirit until you don't know what day it is." His hands squeezed her neck reddening her face. Meh'r-Bano grabbed his hand pushing him off her. She hit his chest with force.
"You need to remember your place Meh'r-Bano. You are not Hoorayn Ghalib."
She charged her arms and yanked all her energy through her forcing his hand off her neck. She gasped for breath and coughed.
"You are no longer a resident of Neelam Valley." Shah Nawaz looked down at her, as she leaned over gasping for breath. "You will be punished accordingly. You are not above the law. Remember, nothing is changing in Jahanpur. No education. Jahanpur will remain as it always has remained. You are a commoner, my subordinate. If you break the law, you will be punished.  You, your baba, your family are all guilty for treason. Soon, you will be held accountable."

Once she regulated her breaths and stood up straight, she ran after him as he left the room. This was her last chance. 
"Choudhary saab." She called out standing in the light corridor, her cream cotton kameez dotted with baba's blood. 
"You can punish me, stand me before the panchayat. I did not mean to do anything sinister or harm anyone. I wanted to save Baba. Believe me."
She held her bloody dupatta between her bloody palms, her eyes brimming with tears. 
"Please let him go. He's innocent."
The corridor light mirrored her glistening tears and shimmered the grief emanating from her striking eyes. Shah-Nawaz couldn't take his eyes off her. The determination to fight for a strange old man and courage to take the punishment was something he'd never saw from his armed guards. Her tears bled loyalty and courage which he grudgingly admired despite she'd betrayed the household. With every mystery and secret he unveiled, she revealed another fierce trait. Her long black parantha ran over her left shoulder down along her chest towards her navel. He glanced at the black beauty spot on her collar bone, but now he'd marked her soft neck with his angry red hand prints when he strangled her. Her petite button nose pierced with a faux gold ring was a ruse to the storm raging inside manifesting a fearless young woman.
"He's innocent." Meh'r-Bano repeated piercing his intense mountain of thoughts.
"It won't work." He clenched his hands into a fist. "No one gets away with high treason. Everyone will be punished!" His yell echoed the narrow hallway and staircase. Shah-Nawaz flung his shawl over his chest and climbed the steps making his way out of the holding area. Once he stood in the courtyard, he clenched his eyes tight and tilted his head up at the blue sky. He took a deep breath trying to regulate his thoughts.
"We're ready to leave!" Announced Uzayr.
Shah Nawaz gradually opened his eyes channelled the rage towards his next goal. It was time to end the legacy of Choudhary Shah Jahan Qureshi.
"Fiza will keep an eye on the teacher. Make sure no one enters the room." Shah Nawaz ordered. 

The fleet of four SUV's and one pick up trick loaded with armed guards left the haveli and made their one-and-a-half-hour journey to the bustling city of Muzaffarabad. In the city, two guards stood watch stalking the family and following their every move. There was no escape from the wrath of Shah-Nawaz today.

Choudhary Dilawar stood on the balcony watching the fleet leave the haveli grounds and travel along the road. Today, he saw an assertive side to Shah-Nawaz. He investigated and exposed the plan behind the fake bomb and punished them accordingly to their crime. Blood was thicker than water as he ousted Allah Ditta and his son.  Putting aside his pride and arrogance, Shah Nawz was on the road to bringing back Shah Jahan's son to Jahanpur.

"Maybe I was wrong about Shah-Nawaz?" Dilawar-Baksh reflected. With no Allah Ditta by his side, there was no one to confide in. It was time to make his own mind. If Shah-Nawaz bought back Shah Jahan's son alive and well, Dilawar would crown him king of Jahanpur. His faith in his son would be restored.

****
Standing outside the sky blue wooden gates, it was the call the guards had been waiting for. For the past six months, Wajahat  posted two guards parked in the busy city watching Shah Jahan's family. Every member of the late Shah Jahan's household was accounted for and a verbal reported delivered to Wajahat Ali twice a day. Akbar ended his call with Wajahat Ali and looked at his partner.
"They're coming." He uttered with fear rising to his throat. "Choudhary Shah-Nawaz is going to kill them all!"