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Pakistani woman acquitted after wrongfully jailed for 20 years

- Going home again -

Nawab has had little to return to since leaving Karachi's central prison in early April.

 

With her loved ones dead, her family house was looted then fell into disrepair.

Any potential compensation from the state will take time to process, her lawyer admits, acknowledging there's a high chance she will receive nothing. In the meantime, she is unemployed.

During her first visit back to her humble family home she quietly wept as her lawyer broke the gate's lock with a hammer.

"(The police) left nothing behind," she said after walking through the dilapidated house covered in dust and cobwebs.

"I lost my parents and now I see none of their belongings."

Nearly two decades after being convicted, Nawab still holds the media as much as the courts responsible for her treatment, saying she was unfairly portrayed as the culprit in the murders, including in a TV drama based on the case.

Although she has been exonerated, her release has done little to change the public narrative.

Persecution persists, Nawab says, with people in the streets frequently whispering cold remarks when she walks past.

"Society will not accept the verdict," agreed Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Farooq, commenting on the case. "She cannot get rid of this stigma as far as society is concerned."

But Nawab says she must move on and has plans to finish her studies and find a job.

She has also vowed to raise awareness for other wrongly imprisoned women. Her lawyer says he will help her set up an NGO to give women like her the support she never had.

"I don't want any other woman to have to endure the ordeal that I lived through," says Nawab.

"So I will raise their voices for them.

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