I feel sick to my stomach...

Society Travel & Tourism
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My mom already paid for her ticket to go to Karachi, Pakistan. She leaves in exactly 1 week and she just called my cousin in Pak who told her that she has been robbed at gunpoint twice!

If we had known about this before, I would have never let her buy a ticket to go there (her sole purpose of going there is to get my wedding clothes) but I still didn’t think it was worth risking her life and money.

I have NO idea what to do! She can’t carry a lot of cash with her, but then how is she supposed to pay for my clothes? And what if she buys all my clothes and ends up getting robbed and they take everything including all my clothes and jewellry?

Also, my family in Pakistan is NOT rich. They dont live in Clifton or Defence where they would have personal drivers and body guards and all that, in fact they dont even own a car, which means she would have to travel by taxi or rickshaw.

I’m so scared I dont even know what to do. My mom says she is still going to go anyways cuz she can’t get a refund on her ticket.

This truly blows… :frowning:

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

^^ .. Situation is not that bad, in reality law & order is improved in Karachi over the last years. So don't worry that much !..

I am going to Pakistan in next month too :)

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

I would love to turn down such fears but unfortunately there has been so much in the news recently where vulnerable home-coming ppl from abroad are being robbed so your concerns are genuine. It depends a lot on the neighbourhood your mom will be staying at and the kind of profile she will keep etc. If she has lived in karachi before, know how to deal with most of the daily stuff there and will have some males helping her out with shopping then I think you should not be much worried. Just make sure she will be more security conscious in Pakistan.

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

:) i can totally relate to you issue... my mom and i spent 3 months in pakistan preparing for my wedding and u are right, its all about handling loads of money at one time .. paying off the tailors, the designers, the jewellar.... and yes, we got robbed too.. thankfully i had a few thousand rupees only in my purse... usually theives are only after the purse and nothing more.

i remember goin to the bank would make my mom and i both sweat like crazy and we hated it so much... each withdrawl was in the lakhs or atleast above 70,000 ruppees .. we didnt trust getting into taxis when we would leave the bank but we had no choice since we didnt have a personal driver...

lekin allah ka shukar hai... everything went smoothly... other than that one incident..

a few tips

dont carry a purse or wallet. keep money in several diff places and not all in one place. i even used to carry money in my bra .. my mom used to carry some in an empty bag of always pads :D .. so u put whatver ure keeping ure money in, in a shopping bag. or maybe even wear those waist traveller purses under ure kameez..

dont keep using the same taxi driver nor ask the taxi driver to wait for u .. its easier but not safe... especially if visiting a jeweller.. if transporting gold, maybe ure mom can ask a mamu or khalu etc to accompany her.. we werent able to and just depended on god

theives are on the look out for houses where wedding preps are goin on and depend on info from maids or drivers or neighbourhood gossip... so dont mention to any maids that ure mom is there for weddig preps.. dont open up or show items bought when the maid is over for cleaning. keep things hidden. ask ure mom keep the jewellary in hte locker until she is ready to leave or until the wedding if the wedding is in pakistan...

always be on the look out for ppl that may be following u.. that was my mistake when i got robbed.. the guy followed us around tariq road before he grabbed a hold of my purse from a rickshaw.. so 2 things.. always be on the lookout for someone who u think may be following u.. and next point

never take a rickshaw.. its easier to grab a purse from a rickshaw than a taxi.

its really hard.. but like my mom says.. gotta be done :)

best of luck to your mom... it doesnt happen to everyone.. inshallah everrything will go smoothly!

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Getting robbed is a compliment. Ugly poor looking people never get robbed. Only beautiful rich looking people do. When you get a gun to your back dont think of it as a life or death situation.. think of it as a happy moment. The robber picked you because he thinks you have lots of money and a life worth saving. :)

EDIT:But seriously... dont worry. Mom wont get killed and you'll get all your pretty wedding clothes. Only problem I do see is... tailors thinking she's holding a big lavish wedding and ripping her off.

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

Absolutely agree with advises given but no need to discuss where the money could be hidden.

Always be careful and no need to show off. Another thing is that the airport is the first place these criminals follow people from so go around the city a bit before you get to home. In all the excitement people go straight to their house from airport and criminals have been known to rob even before travelers enter the house (when the luggage is being taken in to the house).

One family was robbed three times at different houses where they stayed at their relatives within a month!

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

Thanks for the advice guys! And Khawateen I must say you are brave to have been there for 3 months under such corrupt conditions!

Ya I already told her to keep most of the money in her bra or in that waist traveller purse thingy. But about the taxi thing, I heard a lot of the taxis are working with the dakoos. For example, my other cousin who lives in Dubai went to visit his parents in Pakistan and the airport taxi started driving him home and after like a few minutes he noticed 5 guys in motorcyles started following his car. When he arrived at his destination they took all his suitcases and money at gunpoint then let him go. My problem is that if even the airport taxis are working with the criminals....then what hope is there? How do you know which taxis you can trust?

HSK you have a point that ppl who wear rags wont get robbed b/c they look dirt poor and I have told my mom not to wear any nice clothes just really simple clothes...but the problem is...she cant wear nice clothes cuz she will get robbed but she cant wear really crappy clothes either because then the store keepers wont even look at her and wont service her (after all she IS there to get my wedding clothes)....what a dilema! sigh

uss pal bhi dil pay teri tamanna jarri rahi
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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

^ Chances are the Taxi driver was not involved. They just followed people in Taxi from airport.

Timepass- December 2012
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Tell your mum to recite Ayatul Qursi whenever she steps out of the house, recite this dua: Prayer / Dua " For Safety "

and ensure she takes all the necessary safety precautions. May Allah keep her safe

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

Hey I was in home invasion robbery in PK several years ago when I was younger. It was frightening but my relatives live in a very nice part of Defence and it turns out the driver was the one who tipped off some goons that there was a lot of Cash in the house due to over seas guests. My point, you are less likely to get robbed if you are in a location that is not particularly rich. Just don't advertise you are from over seas. if you have a pronounced american or brit accent don't speak when you are around non-relatives , make sure your relatives in PK dont' brag to friends that their bla bla family is comming from Amrika or England and is like a doctor there or whatever. I think the more stealth the better. I know of plenty of people who go to PK go to interior sind and punjab and karachi and are not from Defence or Clifton and seroiusly they are less under the radar.

Good Luck!

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This is so true, I deleted this point from my first post coz I did't want to scare the girl any more. But I think any point will be helpful.

And with the criminals following Taxi/car from the Airport, they are coming up with innovative ways, one of which was unheard of some time ago is they stop you somewhere beteween airport and your house and act like Intelligence Agency Personnel who think you are suspicious and need inquiry. This gives them more time for observing the victim and control over the situation as compared to stealing or robbing on gun point.

candy_apple, we are just giving you more information about the potential scenarios and where to be careful. It does't mean that you should be so much fearful. Insha Allah everything will be ok.

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

Ok so airport taxis are no good.

A lot of people have mentioned that "Metro Taxi" is a good company. Is this true? Is there any history of corruption with this taxi company?

Thanks for your duas.

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

I'd be petrified taking a taxi in PK! I have always taken cars. also I do not dress like I am coming from the west, I usually wear shalwar Kameez and a chador to blend in.

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Since travel to and from airport is the risky part, why dont you get some relative to hire some car with or without driver for your mom. There is car rental service on every corner of karachi. And for the rest of shopping trips etc there is plenty of advice given.

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Good. This is quite possible.

Other idea is not to go with all luggage in one vehicle.

Split the items and have as many men in the vehicle with newcomers as possible. Preferably younger college type men. Somehow these criminals are not very fond of younger men looking like the college boys.

A couple of people from family may even be on bikes or different car following the travelers. These measures do work. Criminals think other 'criminals' are following the same target. :-)

People may be disguised as Taxi drivers but real taxi drivers have no reason to ruin their daily business.

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Thats funny :)

Agreed with Taxi drivers part.

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

^ lol. Nothing to lose I guess. Whatever works.

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Re: I feel sick to my stomach...

Just wanted to share that my sister stayed in Islamabad for three months with the kids and AH came back fine without any incident. They did travel to smaller cities also.
My SIL (gori) and nephew went and stayed in pindi for 4 months without any incident.
The only things they did is someone came to the airport to pick up them in their own car and always went with them for shopping etc.
InshAllah your mom will be fine.

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ohh c'mon, dont worry about anything in Karachi...just dont forget to pack couple of M16's and some extra refill of bullets :P)

The Random Thread
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Just tell your ma to dress like a poor person and take at least 2 relatives with her each time she goes out. If u dress like a poor person and take a rickshaw from one place to another, who would suspect u?

Don't flash the handbag, take a plastic carrier bag or some cloth bag, put some vegetables in it and put the money in that bag with the vegetables.

If u really want to push it, tell your ma to wear a dupatta with holes in it, and give hereslf a good scattering of dust from the road...