Transcription
So, Aadab, Namaskar, Good Evening, Sat Shri Akal. Once again, all of you are welcome in this episode of the story of Kram Tak. I hope the whole family is well, taking care of yourself and your loved ones. It feels strange even to think about it, and you should also think about it. On one side, a country is fighting a war, and a part of Pakistan is about to be disintegrated. After that, a separate country is going to be born in 1971, the foundation of which was laid in the 70s itself by East Pakistan and the Pakistan Army. I have told you the whole story in detail about how the war happened in between and how Bangladesh was born, so I am not going to tell this story.
But during this war, there is a war on one side for two years, and on the other side in Pakistan, there is a story, a scandal, and a mysterious death. The amazing thing is that when, in the atmosphere of war, all the newspapers are full of war news, guess how this story will be that for the whole two years, a story and picture will be on the front page of every newspaper in Pakistan. This story definitely happened, and today I am going to tell you this story. For almost two years, all the aspects of this story were such that in many places, a ban was imposed on the distribution of newspapers so that children could not read the news being published in them.
For those who may not know, this is the biggest mystery in the history of Pakistan: a sex scandal and a most mysterious death story. The story involves two people, one of whom is very beautiful, and the other migrated from Allahabad, a part of India, to Pakistan after partition. One person is a poet whose friends include poets like Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Josh Mali Badi. After going to Pakistan, he gives the civil service exam of Pakistan, like our UPSC, and then becomes an IAS officer there, eventually becoming the District Commissioner of Lahore. He is a servant of such great stature and a great poet; he has his own place and name in the poetry of youth.
Then there is a story of him and his lover, who is alive today. It has also been a mystery for 54 years. Here is the full story. This is the story of Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi. Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi was fond of writing poetry since childhood. At that time, India and Pakistan were all one; it was a British state. We got independence in 1947. Some people were divided into two parts of Pakistan, and some people came to India from Pakistan. Among them was the family of Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi, who shifted from Allahabad to Pakistan. After going to Pakistan, Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi studied there and then gave the civil service exam, got selected because of his good studies, and got posted first in Lahore and then as District Commissioner in Karachi.
Gradually, time passed, and he fell in love with a German woman, and Hasnain Zaidi got married. Everything was going well when they had children. The thing about Hasnain Zaidi was that he was beautiful in appearance, smart in reading and writing, a poet, and along with that, he had a little bit of a heart-throwing temperament. Everything was going well until then. One day, Hasnain Zaidi reaches a club in Karachi, and there he meets a woman named Shahnaz Gul. It was famous in the close circles that Shahnaz Gul was very beautiful. The other story about her was that she married a man about 20 or 25 years older than her, who was earlier in the army. She then left him, got divorced, and after that, she married Salim, who also had children.
Then Shahnaz Gul and Salim went to the same club where Mustafa first met Hasnain Zaidi. In this first meeting, Hasnain Zaidi fell in love with Shahnaz Gul and her beauty. But he got bored, and now he was desperate to meet her and was eager to have a party. Because he was a big government officer, parties were often held in big clubs, and he would take his friends along and then tell Salim that he should also come with his wife. Salim was also aware that Hasnain Zaidi was a big government officer, and many things could happen, so he would also go to the party, but he was not aware of this.
Unknown to him, it gradually became a topic of discussion that there was something between Hasnain Zaidi and Shahnaz Gul. Meanwhile, a time came when around 300 civil servants in Pakistan were removed due to allegations of corruption, and one name in it was that of Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi. So this dent was there; on the other hand, Hasnain Zaidi wanted Shahnaz Gul to come with him, leaving behind her family, husband, and children. Both of them should get married and go abroad to Germany or somewhere else, but Shahnaz Gul didn't want to leave her family, her children, or her husband.
It continued like this. Gradually, time passed. When time passed slowly and gradually, Hasnain Zaidi started to realize that Gul was perhaps now avoiding him. Many times she would call him, but he would not pick up the phone. Many times he would ask to meet her, but she would not come. In the meantime, she had once gone to Germany, and distance had developed. Now this thing started troubling Hasnain Zaidi; he started getting angry that how could she ignore everything? Everything was going on in these relationships, and all these stories were happening. The era of the 70s came, and their relationships were affected a lot.
Years had passed, and in the 70s, a different story was developing in Pakistan. Elections were held, and in that election, the party of East Pakistan won more seats, and they had to become the Prime Minister, but the rest of the Urdu-speaking Pakistanis could not tolerate this. Then they started suppressing the people of East Pakistan, the situation of war came, and Pakistan committed atrocities. After that, India jumped into the middle, and now the sound of war was almost audible. So now the news of this war was running in every newspaper of Pakistan.
But in the meantime, it was 13 October 1970, a summer day, and morning turned into night. Hasnain Zaidi was in his house, and his phone was constantly busy. Many of his friends were calling him since morning, but the phone was busy. A friend called the telephone office, which was there at that time, and said that this number has been busy continuously for hours, so please check if the phone is not damaged. The person checked and said, "No, sir, the phone is fine; it means the person in front is busy."
On the other hand, some people went to Hasnain Zaidi's house and knocked on the door. There was a sound from inside the door. Due to this, the phone was not available, and there were many friends and some poets too, but there was no conversation, and no contact was happening. This is the incident of 13th October 1970. Meanwhile, on the other side, Salim was worried because Salim's wife, his close friend Shahnaz Gul, was missing from Hasnain Zaidi's house. The phone was not being picked up, and there was no sound from the house. It was not opening even after calling inside the house.
Now, Shahnaz Gul, Salim's wife, was missing, and both of them were missing. The story of October 13, 1970, is that morning turned into evening, and Shahnaz Gul did not return. Now there was so much discussion; Salim suspected that Shahnaz Gul was probably at Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi's house. He went and asked. The servants said, "Brother, the door is locked from inside, and we have been calling since morning. No one has opened it." The landline number was continuously ringing.
Now Salim was also in his mind that Shahnaz Gul was inside Hasnain Zaidi's house. All kinds of doubts and questions were in his mind, but neither the door was opening nor the phone was available. When he came back and told some other friends, one friend said, "Your wife is missing; file a police report." Now he was feeling very embarrassed that if he filed a missing report for his wife and tomorrow she was found with Shahnaz Gul and Hasnain Zaidi, then what respect would be left in the locality and society? So due to this fear, he did not show the report.
The whole night passed in this matter. Now, the next morning, Shahnaz Gul had not even returned. On the other hand, the door of Hasnain Zaidi's house was still not opening. Finally, in the morning, people consulted, and Salim reached the police station. He wrote a missing report for Shahnaz Gul, and when he wrote the report, he also mentioned that they were continuously calling her, and maybe she was with Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi in the house.
Yes, but the door of the house was closed, and they were not opening it. The phone was not available. Now, Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi was a big officer, and the police also knew him. They said, "Let's go." A police team accompanied Salim to his home, where they found that the door was actually closed, and the phone was still busy. So the door was broken in front of some witnesses. When they entered, they found Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi lying on the bed. He was lying almost motionless but was wearing clothes, which seemed as if he was probably getting ready to go out of the house.
A pat shirt and all the things were neatly arranged, and near the door of that room was Shahnaz Gul. The phone was also lying dead and was not on the receiver; it was hanging down, and due to it hanging, it was constantly showing busy. All the items in the room were gone; the sofa was broken, the cupboard had fallen down, and all the wrinkles of the bedsheet were torn here and there. Looking at it, it seemed as if something had happened here, but the first task was to take two unconscious people to the hospital. Both of them were immediately taken to Jinnah Hospital.
After some time, the doctor told that Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi had died. A few days ago, he had celebrated his 41st birthday, meaning he was 41 years old. On the other hand, when the doctor saw Shahnaz Gul, he found that she still had to be treated. Then she regained consciousness in the room. When she searched the hospital, it was found that there were a lot of sleeping pills on the table and bed. The doctor found later in the post-mortem report that Zaidi had taken the same pills. Shahnaz Gul, who had also become unconscious, had a different type of pill; she had also consumed that pill.
Then, looking at the pills, both of them thought that it was a case of suicide, but one died at one o'clock. Now this news was in the newspaper the next day. Because on one side was a young poet and a bureaucrat, and on the other side was the most beautiful girl of the city, Shahnaz Gul. What could have been a better spice than this? Now this news was coming in all the newspapers of Dawn and Jung. Here, the news of Bangladesh was going on, but on the front page, this news was also making its place.
Now there was a competition over who would bring more pictures, all the photos of the inside and outside of the house. Now different questions arose: only two people inside that house, all the doors of the house were closed from inside, one is dead, and one is unconscious. Is this suicide or murder? Was there a third person? What will be the story behind this? Now all these things were happening. The police also started their investigation, and the initial theory of the police was that perhaps both of them tried to commit suicide, and one lost his life while the other was saved.
Why is it so simple? That story was already in the public domain that there was love between the two, but gradually the interest of political and other governments also increased in it. Now what is happening is that the stories that are going on in the war are about the atrocities of Pakistan and the Pakistani Army. India's entry into East Pakistan was, in a way, a negative story for the Pakistani rulers. There was one high-profile death, one mysterious death, and on top of that, a sex scandal type of scandal.
Why am I saying this again and again? If I tell you further, now people's interest in it is increasing, and the newspaper has also picked up steam. People’s mood is now publishing this news on priority. Gradually, this kept happening, and after that, the police investigation continued. But now the family members of Hasnain Zaidi started raising their voices that perhaps there was political pressure due to which the truth of her brother's death was being hidden.
Then they raised the finger that in reality, Zaidi did not commit suicide but was murdered, and the murderer was none other than Shahnaz Gul. Now many arguments were being given that if suicide was to be done in the same way, then why did not both of them take the same medicine? Why did Shahnaz Gul take different medicine? Why did Zaidi take different medicine? No one came inside the room, and no one went out. Why was he at the door? Why was he on the bed?
Then if the person committing suicide was not ready by wearing clothes, and the way he was dressed in a suit and boots, it seemed as if he was probably getting ready to go out of the house. Then there would be a possibility of him going out. A person who was going somewhere suddenly thought of sitting and committing suicide. Both of them were in conflict, and this led to an argument. The matter went to court, and then the court ordered the police to file the charge sheet of this case within two weeks and give a complete report.
Now pressure came on the police. When the pressure came on the police and they saw the opinion of people in the newspapers that no, brother, this is not suicide but murder, now for the first time after the intervention of the court, the police searched the house of Hasnain Zaidi. When the house was searched, the police found about 4000 pamphlets from a cupboard, so many small ones which were printed, and in that pamphlet, there was a picture of Shahnaz Gul, who was topless.
Now, Shahnaz Gul from the house of a bureaucrat—what does this mean, and why were these 4000 pamphlets printed? Now when the police talked about investigating it and interrogating some close people, it came to light that when Shahnaz Gul went to Germany and stopped picking up the phone and stopped meeting him, then Hasnain Zaidi realized that perhaps someone else had come into Shahnaz Gul's life, and that is why she was ignoring him.
Then he decided that he would not leave it like this; he would defame her. After that, he got 4000 pamphlets printed from a printing press and picked them up, keeping them in a box in his house, so that when the time came, they would be distributed. There was not even one, and then a diary was found from the same house in which it was written not only that Shahnaz Gul is the Christine Killer of Pakistan but also the Christine Killer of Karachi.
Christine was a kind of spy who had many political connections in Britain at that time, and hence there were all kinds of things. He had also given the name of Shahnaz Gul as the Christine Killer of Karachi, and those 4000 photographs. Now when these 4000 photographs were released, the police felt that it might be a case of blackmailing. The case could be due to pressure from the court.
It happened on 5th November 1970, i.e., 5th November, 13th October 1970, and after that, on 5th November 1970, Karachi Police arrested Shahnaz Gul and alleged that he had committed suicide along with Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi. No, rather he was murdered, and the murderer was Shahnaz Gul. The police gave their reason behind this: the medicines of two doses were less effective. Shahnaz Gul ditched him; 4000 pamphlets were found inside the house, and the letter written against Shahnaz Gul said that she is the Christine Killer of Karachi.
All the things indicate that Shahnaz Gul is the murderer. Now, as soon as the police arrested her, it was like the ground water came from Pakistan's history because such a high-profile story, a sex scandal, 4000 pamphlets, such a beautiful bureaucrat, a poet, and a mysterious death spree. There was a question as to who should publish the best pictures of Shahnaz Gul. There was not a single day in the next two years, from October 1970 to around 1972, when any newspaper of Pakistan was published without Shahnaz Gul's picture.
Now, after the arrest of Shahnaz Gul, when the police arrested her, first the police took the court order and went to Shahnaz Gul's house at night. Shahnaz Gul was woken up by her husband, Salim. She asked what happened, and he told the police. She came and asked to be arrested. When she heard this on the charge of murder, Shahnaz Gul became unconscious. She was unconscious, and the police could not take her. First, she was brought to her senses, and then she was taken to the police station.
Now, after being taken to the police station, it came to light that there were no female police there, and if there was one female, then the law was almost the same for us and Pakistan because it was the gift of the British. Then female policemen were called from other places and kept under their surveillance. After this, the trial started. The whole of Pakistan had made Shahnaz Gul a villain. Whenever Shahnaz Gul went from jail to the court, all the cameras of that time were thankfully not the cameras of the news channel but the cameras of the newspapers. They kept on moving and kept on moving, and every day, these news kept going on, adding some chili masala.
The case kept on moving forward, and finally, on May 4th, 1972, the verdict came. This case went on for two years, and before that, just Pakistan had lost in 1971, and the wound was that Pakistan had also been divided into two; Bangladesh had been formed. But on one side was Bangladesh, on the other side was war, and on the other side was the story of Shahnaz Gul and Mustafa Hasnain Zaidi, which still made its place on the front page.
Then came the same date—May 4, 1972—the court gave its verdict and said there are stories, be it of two types of medicines, 4000 pamphlets, relationships, or love. Be it the infidelity of Shahnaz Gul, famous in high society, but it is not proved from anywhere whether Hasnain Zaidi's death was actually murder or suicide. And if it is murder, then it does not prove that Shahnaz Gul committed murder. Even if it is suicide, it is not proved that Shahnaz Gul instigated that suicide.
After being behind bars for almost two years, a little less than two years, let's say 18 months, on May 4, 1972, the court acquitted Shahnaz Gul. Now for the first time, Shahnaz Gul, who had been facing the media cameras in these two years, came out and covered her face with a dupatta, pallu, or with the elbows of both her hands. That day the decision came; she came out of the court, and after coming out of the court, all the cameras of the photographer were still towards her.
This was the first time that Shahnaz Gul covered her face with a dupatta or anything else. She didn't try to properly look into the camera of every photographer, clicked pictures, and went away from there. Even after this decision, people did not forget the story of Shahnaz Gul. Time passed slowly. Almost 28 years passed. She was acquitted in 72.
In the year 2000, one day a small news came in a newspaper that the biggest scandal of the 70s, the biggest mystery of the 70s, death mystery, murder mystery, and the relationship of high society, which kept its place on the pages of newspapers even during the war, died a silent death. When Shahnaz Gul died in 2000, there was no news anywhere, nor was there a small news picture. It came, and from it, the Pakistanis came to know that Shahnaz Gul had died.
Shahnaz Gul was not featured on the newspaper's front page for two years. When she died, someone wrote two paragraphs. There was no news published about her death, and this story always remained like this. Even today, there are two sections in Pakistan who believe that there was a deep conspiracy behind the murder of Hasnain Zaidi. Some people blame Shahnaz Gul for this, and some people believe that on that night, i.e., on 13 October 1970, apart from these two, there was a third person in the house of Hasnain Zaidi, and that third person had given so much medicine to both of them fraudulently that he felt that both of them would die and then he quietly left.
But who was the third person? We do not even know what happened in that room that night. We do not even know what was the reason for death. We do not even know what happened to those chaj palatas. I don't even know what was to happen. So the result of this whole story without an address is that even today nothing is known, but even today it is seen as the biggest mystery and scandal of Pakistan.
So this was today's story. Let me end the story. Before that, please note: Today is Sudhanshu Ranjan's birthday. Happy Birthday, Sudhanshu ji, and this has been sent by Kripali Rawal. Apart from this, Ashish's birthday is also today. Happy Birthday, Ashish, and this has been sent by RK Maha Chanda. Vaishnavi Chaturvedi has also sent this. Today is her birthday, so Happy Birthday, Vaishnavi.
This is Jaishankar. She is Chaubey ji's daughter, and also Nagesh Togar, today is her birthday, so happy birthday, Nagesh ji. Komal also has a birthday today. Happy Birthday, Komal, and this has been sent by Ravi Upadhyay. His daughter is married, Neha; it is also her birthday, so happy birthday, Neha. This is Rohit Giri ji's wife, and also it is Sagar Tailor's birthday, so happy birthday, Sagar Darji Bhai, and Kishan Darji ji have sent this.
Apart from this, today is the marriage anniversary of both Shikha and Vibhor, so Shikha ji and Vibhor ji, many congratulations to both of you. Before I end the story, many mails came yesterday from people who sent their opinions, and I will not give my opinion about the majority opinion in it. I will tell you the opinion of the entire Kram family.
20-year-old Jiswa of Delhi, son Arjun, had killed his parents and sister. They were of the opinion that the way he did when he was 20 years old, a parent should not touch their child at the age of 20. This is wrong, and perhaps this is the reason why all this happened. So among all the mails and messages that have come to me, I am talking about the majority who were of the opinion that parents should not lay hands on a 20-year-old child.
Opinions may differ, but people wrote, so this is what I had to tell you. That's all in the story today. Now I will meet you tomorrow night at 9:00 PM with a new story. Till then, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Thank you very much.