Arshad Sharif’s daughter’s heart-wrenching letter to her late father
“Dear Baba,
It’s been a month since we lost you. All that happened to you should never have happened. Should this be the penalty for speaking the truth? Is speaking against corruption punished this way? Is it fair that loving your country, more than you love yourself and your family be redressed like that? I know that you were avenged because you spoke the truth. If they were true, they would answer rather than piping you down, rather than killing you.
‘Allah will raise my kids, this is what your response would be every time someone asked you to think of your children before speaking against evil. I have seen people envying your martyrdom. I’d say that Allah indeed has embraced you with a death that is glorified, but the Pharaohs of time have exceeded all the limitations of tyranny – may no one go through what you went through.
I have heard people yearning for a funeral the same as yours. What they do not know is that one needs to strive hard to be amongst the honorable as you were. One has to sacrifice his life for it, far away from his family, in a land unknown. One has to have a heart. It is not something a coward can do.
As I am writing this letter, I recall a couplet that you used to say,
The enemy has lost the battle
The moment he brought an army to defeat a single person
The people who said they would always stand by your side left you alone and stranded when you needed them. They turned their backs on you, but that didn’t stop you. You kept fighting because you wanted to set an example for us.
I remember your teacher called you ‘in the world of hopelessness, a light of hope. I remember you saying, I’ll die like a hero. I don’t want people to recall me as a traitor, I don’t want my name to be written among the bad in history. Of all the things you said, of all the commitments you made, you fulfilled this one too.
The entire world is chanting for you as a hero. The thing that saddens me is that nobody raised their voice against injustice when it was needed. I cannot even imagine how you might have suffered. You were going through so much but you faced it with a smile on your face, you never let anyone guess the storm that was raging inside your heart.
I can never forget your beautiful smile. Words cannot suffice to express the love in my heart for you. It keeps increasing with every passing day. I wish I could turn back the time. I wish I could hug you for one last time. I wish I could tell you how much I love you, just for one last time.
I remember the day when you were leaving. You told me not to worry. You told me you’d be back soon. You were standing there, with your eyes filled with tears. Before leaving, why didn’t you tell us that you would never come back, you would never talk to us again? You would never be here again?
I can proudly say that I am Arshad Sharif’s daughter
We raise our heads high with pride because of you. By sacrificing your life, you have proven that against tyranny you would never bow your head down. I know that we might not get justice in this world, but I know for a fact that the Pharaohs of time will be standing before Allah one day. They will be held accountable for their deeds in the court of the Almighty and they will be punished for what they have done to you.
The innocent will not sacrifice their blood to the hyenas anymore, the wrath of the Almighty will doom the reign of the tyrants soon. I do not know how these miseries will cease. I do not know how time is going to pass, but one thing that I know for sure is that I want it to end soon so that I can meet you again. So that I can see your beautiful smile again. Nobody will ever replace you. I miss you and I will meet you soon.
I know you can see me, I know you can hear me and I know that you know how miserable I felt after you left. But I want to let you know that I am proud of you. I pray to the Almighty, to bestow us with abilities so that we can make you proud too. That we may raise your head high the way you have raised ours.
There will be a Moses for a Pharaoh. The wrath of the Almighty will rip the veil of darkness one day. The dawn is near.
Love,
Your dear daughter”