“The kidnapping by the police in Pakistan shaped my career”

A man who claims he was abducted by police while on holiday in Pakistan when his father was framed for murder is now a university lecturer in policing.

Nawaz Hanif was detained by authorities in Mirpur for over a week in 2006 to force his father to turn himself in for a murder he did not commit.

His father, Mohammed, spent four years on death row after being accused of killing a neighbor – before he was finally released after a judge declared him not guilty.

Nawaz, who has joined Birmingham City University as a lecturer in criminology and policing, said he wanted to use his experience to teach the next generation how not to be a police officer.

Nawaz, from Birmingham, had travelled to his family’s ancestral home in Pakistan-administered Kashmir to attend a family wedding.

After a neighbor was shot in front of the house, authorities suspected Nawaz’s father, even though he was not at home at the time.

“He was framed for a murder of which he was undoubtedly innocent,” Nawaz told the BBC.

“Not only was he framed, but also my uncle and two of my relatives. All four were accused of committing this atrocity against a man who lost his life but was actually killed by his own family.”

After an earlier dispute with the neighbor’s family, Nawaz’s father had asked the mayor of the region for advice on how to resolve the conflict. There he learned about the shooting and was advised to stay with relatives.

Back at the house, Nawaz, then 18, went outside after hearing gunshots and saw the body of a man he did not recognize.

“People were panicking, they were screaming, it was total chaos – we didn’t know if they were robbers or bandits, as they are called in Pakistan,” he said.

The police arrived and surrounded the house. One officer grabbed Nawaz by the wrist and searched his pockets.

The house was searched and Nawaz and his cousin were put in the back of a van and taken to a police station.

“I realized that I had not been arrested but had been kidnapped by the police in Pakistan,” he added.

Nawaz spent the night “trembling with fear” in the officers’ locker rooms.

He remained at the station for eight days, without contact with his family, friends or a lawyer, after officers informed him that his father was wanted for murder and that he was “not going anywhere” until his father arrived.

“I remember crying and breaking down,” he said. “I just said my father wouldn’t do something like that. He was such a shy and introverted person. He was a pacifist. He wouldn’t hit anyone if they hit him in the face.”

The allegation was “unbelievable,” he added.

Eventually he was moved to an “overcrowded” cell and claimed he witnessed people being dragged from their cells, beaten and “effectively tortured” to make them “confess to things they almost certainly had not done.”

“The echo was echoing around, you could hear people being beaten up, and I just tried to sleep despite it all.

“There was a guy handcuffed to the top of the cell door,” he said. “He was limp and unconscious and his arm was pale and yellow. And I realized they had basically just handcuffed him and left him there.”

“I remember being terrified every time the door opened.”

Finally, Mohammed reported to a police station so that his son could be released.

After he was arrested along with two other relatives, Nawaz’s mother and siblings were evicted from their house, which was soon looted and remains uninhabited to this day.

While awaiting trial in Mirpur Central Prison, Mohammed spent his time writing in his diary while his family contacted Downing Street, MPs and even Buckingham Palace to secure his release.

“During this time, my father showed a lot of patience,” Nawaz said. “Whenever we had the opportunity to talk to him on the phone, he told us not to worry, everything will be fine.”

In 2010, he was finally released after four years in custody when a judge in Pakistan found him and his co-defendants not guilty and acquitted them of all charges.

According to Nawaz, the deceased was killed by a member of his own family in a land dispute.

He then moved to West Midlands Police, where he spent nearly a decade in the Professional Standards Unit investigating police misconduct and corruption.

After teaching on Staffordshire University’s Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship programme, he began a new role as a lecturer at BCU in April.

Sarah Wood, associate dean of the School of Business, Law and Social Sciences, said they were “absolutely thrilled” to have him in the role.

“He brings real experience and a sense of authenticity, given what he has experienced throughout his life in his own family circumstances but also in his professional roles,” she said.

For Nawaz, it is as if he has come full circle when he comes to BCU to teach the next generation.

The future of policing in England and Wales also looks bright after several scandals that have caused a stir, he added.

“I think we are at a crossroads in terms of the future, after Sarah Everard and after David Carrick. And I think there is an opportunity to shape policing in a way that has never been done before,” Nawaz said.

“To get it out there and hopefully have a new generation of police officers who are willing to stand up for their values ​​… (and) call out bad behavior.”

“I’m really happy to be here. It feels like I’ve come home.”