Quetta’s Ram Jaane
Haji is considered something of an intellectual by drug addicts. He has much to say about the issues confronting the country, his province and his neighbourhood. But he is not much of a conversationalist. He likes to keep talking, leaving little room for others to speak. Maybe this is why he spends most of his time with people who are high and who do not talk back a whole lot.
Haji knew Ram Jaane. He remembers that, in the late 1990s, a cycle was stolen in front of a gaming zone in Jinnah Town. This was the first time Haji heard of Ram Jaane, he recalls.
Background interviews suggest that it was around this time that Ram Jaane founded the Bicchoo Group. The group was never very big, comprising only of Ram Jaane and a few of his broke friends. But they gained notoriety fast. Starting off from bicycles, they soon moved on to stealing motorcycles and eventually became infamous for stealing cars.
“Even if he was not involved in the theft of a car, he would know who has taken it and where it is now,” says one of Ismail’s childhood friends. “Once when a friend’s car was stolen we contacted Ram Jaane. Within an hour, he located the car and told us who had stolen it.”
Like Shah Rukh Khan’s character, Quetta’s Ram Jaane also frequently found himself behind bars. He was constantly in and out of the Saddar Police Station. Whenever he was arrested his demeanour would apparently change. “He would cry like a child in jail,” a policeman recalls. “He would even hurl abuses at his parents, pleading with them to get him out.”
Ram Jaane would also help negotiate with other criminals for his friends.
But not everyone considered Ram Jaane a friend. He was also making quite a few enemies. People believed he was also involved in cases of kidnapping for ransom. Details of the crimes he was alleged to be involved in vary. But one thing is for sure: over time, Ram Jaane had become a big-time criminal. A neighbour recalls that whenever something untoward would happen in Quetta, Ram Jaane’s house would be raided by law enforcement.
Like Shah Rukh Khan’s character, Quetta’s Ram Jaane also frequently found himself behind bars. He was constantly in and out of the Saddar Police Station. Whenever he was arrested his demeanour would apparently change. “He would cry like a child in jail,” a policeman recalls. “He would even hurl abuses at his parents, pleading with them to get him out.”
Things changed when former chief minister Abdul Malik Baloch took office. Crackdowns became the norm and Ram Jaane found it difficult to conduct his business. He decided it was time to move on.
He moved to Karachi, bought a flat and a few local buses that would go between Karachi and Hub. Ram Jaane’s family was happy that he was quitting criminal activities and starting over in the city of lights.
But this ray of hope soon dimmed. Ram Jaane was unable to let go of his past ways and settle down in Karachi. When someone told him that law enforcers in Quetta were once again turning a blind eye towards criminals, Ram Jaane closed his business in Karachi and moved back home.
A PRICELESS FRIENDSHIP Hafeez Baloch was one of Ram Jaane’s closest friends. The mobile phone thief and Ram Jaane would meet frequently. In truly filmy fashion, Ram Jaane and Hafeez decided to turn their dosti [friendship] into a rishtedaari [familial connection]. Hafeez’s sister got married to Ram Jaane’s brother.
But the happiness did not last long. One day, while Hafeez and another thief were trying to steal a motorcycle on Sariab Road, a Frontier Corps soldier fired at Hafeez — killing him on the spot. The man with him was also injured, but survived.
That was back in 2014.
Hafeez’s death left Ram Jaane completely shattered. Growing up, Ram Jaane understood the boys around him only befriended him for personal gains. And he had always felt like he had little in common with others his age. As per one account, Ram Jaane had also been abused as a child and, naturally, carried that burden with him throughout his life. Hafeez was a rare genuine friend.
After Hafeez died, Ram Jaane felt very alone. He would go to his grave at Kasi graveyard every day. One day, after reciting some prayers at the graveyard, he told one of his close associates that he wanted to be buried next to Hafeez. This was a curious request — none of Ram Jaane’s family members were buried at this graveyard.
The death of his friend had clearly changed Ram Jaane. He had seen firsthand how, in his line of work, life could end in a flash.
WHEN DEATH CAME KNOCKING A few months after Hafeez’s death, someone knocked on Ram Jaane’s door and asked him to accompany him somewhere. Something about the scenario struck Ram Jaane’s brother as odd. He says he advised him not to go. But Ram Jaane considered this man a friend. “I have to help him out,” he told his brother. “I cannot say no to my friends.”
Those were the last words Ram Jaane said to his brother. He got in his car with the man. Soon two other men got in the vehicle and stuck a gun at Ram Jaane. He did not return alive. He was only in his early thirties.