"A Mysterious Death in the Cold ".

It was the cold and silent night of November 27, 2019, when I was present at the Police Chowki Gulrez, Thana Chaklala. It was around 3 am, and I had just lain down on my bed, with the blanket barely starting to warm me up, when the clerk knocked on the door. "Sir, there's a call from Safari Hospital, a 7-year-old girl's body has been brought in, and it's being reported as a natural death. We're supposed to just hand over the body to the family members."

The thought that struck my mind was, "It's very cold..." At the same time, the clerk offered, "If you say so, I can go myself. I'll hand over the body to the family and come back." This offer touched my heart, but as soon as I closed my eyes, a question stirred in my mind: "If it's a natural death, why was the police called?" This very question awakened my conscience. I immediately got out of bed, put on my uniform, and set out towards Safari Hospital with my team.

The first scene at the hospital: a 7-year-old girl's body lay in the emergency ward, wearing dirty clothes, with an innocent face and a cold body. I inquired from the lady doctor on duty, "What happened to the girl?" The doctor replied, "Nothing happened, the girl just fainted and passed away. There are no signs of injury or assault." I asked seriously, "Did you check the girl's body thoroughly? Any scratches or injuries?" She hesitated and said, "Yes... we've checked thoroughly, there's nothing... although if you think it's appropriate, we could conduct a post-mortem." This sentence seemed strange. If nothing happened, why suggest a post-mortem? There was nervousness in the doctor's eyes, perhaps trying to hide something.

The girl's father looked weak, wearing dirty clothes, with grief evident on his face. I asked calmly, "What happened to your daughter?" He replied, looking down, "I'm a garbage collector. I go out every evening and return around 2-2:30 am. The door is locked from the inside, but I have a specific technique to open it." "Was it the same tonight?" I inquired. "Yes, sir, when I came home, the door was locked just like I had left it. I came in and saw my 7-year-old daughter, Sidra, sleeping on a charpoy in the veranda outside the living room. There were old coats and sweaters on her."

"Where were the other family members?" I asked. "My wife and other children were sleeping inside the room. I thought Sidra might have gotten upset with her mother and slept outside. It was cold, so I tried to lift her to take her inside... but when I touched her, she was lifeless, completely cold." For a few moments, his voice broke, and his eyes welled up. "Then?" I asked softly. "Then my wife and I immediately took her to the hospital. They told us she had passed away. I think she might have died due to the cold, sir, nothing else happened to her."

Observations during the investigation: there were no visible injuries on the girl's body, and there was an uncertain calmness in the father's statement, as if nothing had happened. The cold night, the girl's body in the veranda, and the family members sleeping inside the room - all of this raised disturbing questions. There was a sorrowful silence in the hospital with the body. The girl's father had given his statement, but many questions were still unanswered. One question in particular was lingering in my mind: "How did Sidra, a 7-year-old girl, end up sleeping alone on a charpoy in the severe cold of the night?" I tried to ask the girl's mother, but she was a Pashtun, unfamiliar with Urdu and Punjabi. There was fear in her eyes, simplicity and helplessness on her face. I asked through her husband: "Did you put your daughter to sleep outside?

" Wait for part 2