Boycott of Nirala Sweets

By AhmedGeneral

You may have heard of a disturbing story developing during the last few days regarding the death of a 2-month old baby and Faisal Farooq, the son of the owner of Nirala Sweets which is a popular confectionary chain in Pakistan. A Mr.Waseem, travelling with his 2-month old son and other family members, crashed his car as a result of a race between two other cars, around Lahore’s Defence area. The baby died shortly after reaching the hospital while the other passengers also suffered serious injuries.

While Faisal fled the scene of the accident, a case was registered against him, but instead of justice being swiftly served, Faisal and a group of armed men arrived to threaten the victim’s family to withdraw the case. It seems that they were initially successful at making this happen (or at least preventing a final case being registered), with the help of some senior policemen off course, but the issue has now garnered enough attention to get the Inspector General to intervene.

This case could be a testbed for where this country currently stands when it comes to basic human rights, justice and equality. Will the rich and powerful manage to get off the hook yet again or will justice prevail this time? Is the life of a child, belonging to a family that doesn’t fall into the elite category, still worth less than the freedom of the privileged? The good thing is, this time we can play a part in getting the right thing done.

However, what is the right thing to do? There is some material to suggest that the facts are less sensational than what the media, both blogs and news services, are making them out to be. According to Adnan’s post, Nirala Sweets Controversy-Media Politics?, someone had the following to say:

The events have been grossly misreported & exagerated. The way it really happened was that the driver of the Honda City took blind u-turn in the middle of the road, into the path of the oncoming Boxter driven by Faisal Farooq. There was no race. I know Faisal to be a particularly cautious driver & he rarely exceeds the 100 km/h while driving. If there was an accident, something must’ve popped up real fast in his way for him to react; i.e. the blind u-turn taken by the driver of the Honda City.

But this is just the account of one person. I have trouble believing that a Boxter, driven by the son of a rich businessman, was moving at an acceptable speed (100 km/h is in itself above the speed limit for pretty much any city in Pakistan), while a Honda City, with a child and family on-board, was at fault.

A number of blogs have posted about this and have called for a boycott of Nirala Sweets, something that I’m also going to endorse based on the facts available and until some solid evidence can be found to refute the original account of events.

Here are some more links on this:
Boycott Nirala
The Perks of Being Rich: Time for You to Act

24 thoughts on “Boycott of Nirala Sweets”

  1. A Porsche is designed to stop on a dime – and no one should be going a 100km in a uturn zone.

    I’m not sure what the real version is, but it should come out sooner or later.

  2. I second your sentiments and this should be thoroughly condemned. The simple act of threatening the grieving family of dire consequences speaks volume about the Guilty party

  4. Thank you all for the feedback.

    Adnan, I agree with you that we shouldn’t play a part in media wars. However, ignoring this case could mean that we are yet again letting the elite have their way.

    It is our duty to ensure that the society we live in is one that treats everyone equally and is not run by a select few that hold all the power.

    I also agree that the same goes for exploiting the media to wrong an innocent person, but in this case, things weigh heavily against Mr. Faisal. Even if one of the stories is false, I would rather err on the safe side than do nothing about it.

  5. By not beliving , I didn’t mean that I am saying that “baby was not expired”. I am just not beliving on other part that faisal threatened the family and ran away. Specially when some of the person who said that he’s from Mobilink is willing to kill me because I posted the other view. Read the comments on same Post which you have referred:>

  7. LAHORE, Nov 30: Police have not yet arrested businessman Faisal Farooq. Mr Farooq allegedly killed a two-month-old baby boy in a road accident on Nov 26.

    The Cantt SP (investigation) claimed that a case was registered against him late on Wednesday night when he thrashed an uncle of the child for not making compromise. He said

    Defence police investigation team raided the Davis Road residence and office of the accused on Thursday but made no arrest.

    Sources, however, claimed that despite the registration of the FIR the investigation team did not carry out a raid to arrest the accused who was being protected by a serving senior police official.

    Aaraj was killed while his parents and grandmother were injured when Farooq’s car hit their vehicle in Defence on Nov 26.

    Farooq got interim bail in the case. The police lodged another case against him for threatening the family of the deceased with dire consequences for not making compromise.

    Meanwhile, Waseem Sajjad and his wife Ayesha were discharged from hospital on Thursday.

    http://www.dawn.com/2006/12/01/nat25.htm

  8. DefenceBoy, thank you for posting the link and the updated news article.

    Adnan, threatening someone in this way is in itself an unjustified act and it’s a pity that the idiot did that just because you posted the other view.

    But the point is, that any such injustice should be condemned and we should do what we can to eradicate it from our society.

  10. Who are we to decide who is guilty by just hearing at Waseem’s side of the story.

    Our unprofessional media and journalism has stressed so much on Waseem’s story that general public has already sentenced Faisal Farooq guilty.

    Have a look at the following site

    http://www.aslibaat.com/

    It brings forward a completely different story.

    The flash animation clearly indicates the careless driving of Mr. Waseem.

    Still I dont know who is lying and who is telling the truth.

    GOD knows better, but we should not make our judgement after hearing just one side of the story.

    Visit the link

    http://www.aslibaat.com/

    and read it your self.

    The site covers the entire story.

  11. Who are we to decide who is guilty by just hearing at Waseem’s side of the story.

    Our unprofessional media and journalism has stressed so much on Waseem’s story that general public has already sentenced Faisal Farooq guilty.

    Have a look at the following site

    http://www.aslibaat.com/

    It brings forward a completely different story.

    The flash animation clearly indicates the careless driving of Mr. Waseem.

    Still I dont know who is lying and who is telling the truth.

    GOD knows better, but we should not make our judgement after hearing just one side of the story.

    Visit the link

    http://www.aslibaat.com/

    and read it your self.

    The site covers the entire story.

  12. Is Nirala Sweets in Pakistan only?

    I had come across the story and then I checked out what Nirala sweets exactly is.

    My comment on this situation is, whether justice will be served or not, whether public knows both sides of the story or not,.. How can Pakistanis put up with the “vedera”/jahil actions of people taking law into their own hands and showing up to other people’s doorsteps w/ weapons.

    I agree with TeethMaestro, “simple act of threatening the grieving family of dire consequences speaks volume”.

    The U.S. doesn’t have Islam but still the general public can never behave in such a day. I can’t believe I always hear about things & actions that’s from the pre-Islamic period happening in Pakistan now.
    It’s sad and sickening!

  13. First of all I would lke to say that these incidents can only happen when there is no law. Unfortunately Pakistan is one of those countries where something with a name of law is kept as a mistress and police is like a pimp who works for rich people. As far as this guy is concerned, he should be given a severe punishment. Now about this website i.e. http://www.aslibat.com, WAO a wonderful effort of changing minds. Seems like this guy is good at doing forums so he did say his asli bat and amazingly his asli bat is nothing but trying to present fuckn farooqi as an Angel. May Allah give courage to the victims and also teach a lesson to this Fuckn Niralians….They have their children and i hope they will see the results soon

  14. It’s all very demorlising to most of above comments phucking one person or the other.
    but i would say that Accused is innocent until proven guilty

    Playing the Blame game wont lead to anywhere. The death of a minor in the accident is regretaable and tragic But let us not jump to conclusions on this until court order comes out.

    Like most I am also confused about the real story behind this.

  15. Just the fact that Faisal Farooq and goons went out to threaten the bereaved family to refute an FIR is sad and ugly , The whole case should be scrutinised and see who is at fault , If Faisal was speeding in his Boxter then he should be thrown into Jail and the key thrown away , If not the bereaved family be compensated according to law , I hope something comes about so the rich and famous stop flexing thier new found muscles the way they do , well until anything is solved keep boycotting the sweets to much c is not good for anyone.

  16. No doubt the incident is very sad.One thing which i feel is that while taking the turn it is obvious that the speed has to be reduced and if some one is driving along with his family than it is impossible to take turn at a greater speed.Taking turn at high speed can also cause the vehicle upside down and if not upside down than the driver may loose control.So as far as i think Mr.Faisal was driving at high speed and he may not be able to see the vehicle turning.But the question is that why he was at such a high speeed??Moreover the treatning with armed men proves that he is guilty and he tried to suppress the affected family so that he can be saved.Believe me faisal will be freed out of this case and he will be proven innocent because the courts and police of this country can easily be moulded to the side who has more money and influence in this society.I myself is a Government officer and i had personal experience of pressureising me for sparing the wrong acts by influenced persons.
    One Minister and his allies beated the lady doctor in the Jinnah hospital.The doctors protested but again the police and the senior doctors under handed threatened the doctors that if the protest continues than their career will be ruined .So the matter was closed.No action was taken against the MNA.
    Imagine and feel that 5 tall and healthy men beating an innocent lady doctor because one of their relatives died as he had swallowed poison.
    Her head broke out and some bones were also fractured.
    So in this society might is right.

  17. Some people are saying that the fir is wrong because it was registered 10 hours after the incident.My question is if they had been the victim of this accident than what should they do right after the accident.Either go to police station or to hospital?
    Please do not try to become over smart.Every one knows that to register an fir against rich and influencial persons is not an easy job.
    These Nirala people oblige the beaurucracy and political persons by gifting sweets and by selling the sweets to these people at nominal rates.So they are more influencial.After all our Governor inspection team also have to use Nirala sweets…………….

  18. I have been reading/hearing about the accident ever since its occurrence, I came across this site just today and felt like posting my feelings.

    The baby’s death is the saddest part in the whole incident. May God give the bereaved family strength to face this grave loss.

    Other facts to consider are:

    Faisal may be rich and influential but does not mean that he is guilty. He must have already learnt a lesson the hard way, by going through the hardships and torments.

    Wasiem’s family has suffered an irreversible loss. They should pursue the matter in the proper forums and law courts. But everyone knows these can be influenced by the rich and mighty. I believe that they should leave the final judgment to the Almighty. If Faisal is guilty he will have to live the rest of his life with this guilt.

    Mobilink has used the media very well and in the process must have made a lot of money by the generation of the flood of sms messages regarding the accident. I believe that public opinion should not molded especially while the matter is subjudice. The boycott or not of Nirala Sweets should be deferred until after the proper authorities finally decide the matter.

    The Porsche can be driven at very high speeds and should only be driven by people who can handle such cars. It is also a very expensive car and its owners must be very caring and possessive of it and would not go around bashing everything in site. Again the proper person to judge can only be an eyewitness.

    The general public should refrain from passing judgment in matters where they are not aware of the full facts. Even people living in foreign countries, far away from the place of the accident, do not refrain from making biased comments. It is like saying that all Muslims are terrorists and that all bomb explosions in India are carried out by Pakistan.

  23. Well looking at the animation at http://www.aslibaat.com/, it seems that there isn’t a huge distance between the red light and the site of the collision. As mentioned above by one of the respondents that Boxters are designed to stop on a dime, let me add that they have the horsepower adn torque to hit speeds over 10 KmH in seconds. I am not fully aware of the distance but picture of the damaged car (victim’s car) shows that its tail end was hit. As such, by any law, Pakistani or of other western country we look up to for justice, the porsche’s driver is at fault for more than one reason.
    1. While accelerating at certain speed the braking was not efficient, suggesting extremely high torque generated by the engine that even if he down shifted he could have not reign in the car at the last moment.
    2. Its the tail end that was hit people! always the fault of person who didn’t stop. Because as part of safe driving, as someone suggested the driver adheres to, you should be driving at sppeds where you can stop in the event of sudden changes in traffic conditions. But apparently our rich boy wasnt. I am sure there is negligence on part of the Honda too but I am sure the driver of honda didnt anticipate that the porsche will catch up in seconds. Its more lack or faulty judgment of the porsche driver that he thought the city will get out of the way in time.

    If it was a western country, no matter what the honda driver would have sued his boxter ass for amounts that would have taughgt everyone a lesson. No matter whose fault was grave. porsche’s driver would have been easily convicted of vehicular homicide, even if not jail time, still would have paid compensation for amounts that would stop him him from thinking of porsche, instead he will ride a khota gaddi, as he is supposed to.

Comments are closed.