This chapter will capture the moment when the Dewan Group's credibility in the eyes of the Pakistani public began to unravel—scandals, unpaid loans, angry investors, workers without salaries, and media portraying the group as "fallen tycoons." It will include:
Real history & facts (the banking defaults, car buyers left stranded when DFML shut down, unpaid suppliers, market manipulation allegations).
Real characters (Dewan Mohammad Yousuf, bankers, journalists, politicians).
Scenes with dialogues (in the press, in the streets, in boardrooms, even in tea shops where ordinary Pakistanis discussed Dewan's fall).
Theme: How "trust"—the most valuable currency in business—was lost piece by piece until the public itself turned away
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It was a humid afternoon in Karachi, 2009, when a journalist for Dawn summed up the growing sentiment in a single line:
"The Dewan name once commanded respect. Today, it commands suspicion."
That one sentence echoed what many Pakistanis already felt. Dewan Farooque Motors, once a symbol of Pakistan's industrial pride, was now seen as a case study in broken promises.
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Scene 1: The Unpaid Workers
At the Dewan Cement factory in Hyderabad, workers gathered at the gate. For months, salaries had been delayed. Some hadn't been paid at all.
Worker 1 (angrily):
"Bhai, humari bachon ki fees kaise den? Har mahina sirf waada, paisa nahin!"
Worker 2:
"Yousuf Dewan sahib kehti hain 'situation tight hai.' Tight hamari jeb hai, unki nahin."
A supervisor tried to calm them.
"Please, we are negotiating with the banks. Money will come."
But the anger was real. Trust—the bond between employer and worker—was fraying.
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Scene 2: The Car Buyers
In Karachi's Saddar, at a used-car dealership, a frustrated customer argued with a dealer.
Customer:
"I bought a Shehzore truck thinking DFML will always provide parts and service. Now the company has shut down, no parts, no resale value. Who will answer for my loss?"
Dealer (shrugging):
"Sir, this is Pakistan. When companies collapse, customers pay the price. You should have bought Toyota."
Stories like this multiplied across Pakistan. For ordinary citizens, Dewan had promised "international quality at local prices." Instead, they felt abandoned.
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Scene 3: The Banking Halls
At Habib Bank's headquarters in Karachi, a senior executive flipped through files of Dewan Group loans.
Banker:
"Billions stuck. Non-performing loans. Every quarter, the same excuse: restructuring. They over-leveraged, expanded everywhere, and now? Nothing but defaults."
Another banker muttered:
"And still, they lobby for more loans. How can we trust them when they never pay back?"
The words "defaulter" and "Dewan" began to appear together in official memos. Once trusted borrowers, they were now blacklisted.
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Scene 4: The Media Storm
On a Geo News program, anchor Hamid Mir grilled a panel of economists.
Hamid Mir:
"Dewan Group took billions from Pakistani banks, yet today factories are closed, workers unpaid, loans unpaid. Was this mismanagement or corruption?"
An economist replied sharply:
"Both. Mismanagement in their ambition to expand too fast, corruption in their ties with politicians who gave them favors. They built an empire on debt, not on trust."
The clip went viral. For the public, the narrative was sealed: Dewan was no longer the pride of Pakistan, but a cautionary tale.
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Scene 5: A Family Confrontation
At Dewan House in Karachi's Clifton, tensions boiled within the family.
Son 1:
"Father, the newspapers call us 'defaulters.' Every day there's a new scandal. Even our friends avoid us."
Yousuf Dewan (tired):
"Do not listen to noise. Empires are not judged in headlines but in history."
Son 2 (frustrated):
"But people believe the headlines! If the public loses faith, no bank, no partner, no politician will stand with us. We are already losing everything."
Silence fell. For the first time, even inside the family, doubt replaced loyalty.
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Scene 6: Conspiracies in Drawing Rooms
In Karachi and Lahore's elite clubs, whispers grew louder.
Businessman 1:
"Yousuf Dewan was too ambitious. He thought he could take on the Japanese, the cement giants, even the banks. Now he is paying the price."
Businessman 2:
"Don't be naive. He was brought down. Rivals in cement and auto lobbied the government, cut off his financing, and spread rumors. It's a conspiracy."
Whether one believed it was conspiracy or mismanagement, one fact remained: the Dewan name was tarnished.
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Scene 7: Parliament
In Islamabad, during a heated session, a lawmaker raised the issue.
MNA:
"Mr. Speaker, when small borrowers default, banks auction their homes. But when big tycoons like Dewan default, they fly to Dubai in first class! This double standard is why the public has lost trust in our system."
Applause erupted. The Dewan case had become a symbol of elite impunity.
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Scene 8: The Investors' Fury
At the Karachi Stock Exchange, small investors who had bought Dewan shares gathered in protest.
Investor:
"You promised revival. You promised Hyundai's return. Instead, our shares are worth nothing! How many times will you sell us dreams?"
DFML's stock, once a darling of speculators, had become a joke. Traders sneered at it as "dead paper."
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Scene 9: The Final Blow
In 2010, the State Bank of Pakistan officially listed Dewan among the largest loan defaulters. Newspapers splashed the headlines:
"Dewan Group owes billions to banks—will taxpayers pay the price?"
For the public, this was the final straw. The empire built on decades of work had lost its most important asset—not money, not factories, but trust.
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Scene 10: A Man Alone
Late at night, Yousuf sat in his study. The room was dark except for the dim glow of a desk lamp. He read through an old file—the launch plans of Dewan Shehzore in the late 1990s.
He whispered to himself:
"We gave this country jobs, cars, cement, steel. And now they call us thieves. Was it our mistakes—or theirs?"
Outside, the city buzzed with rumors and ridicule. Inside, a man who once dreamed of building Pakistan's industrial future faced the bitter reality of losing public trust.
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Closing Reflection
The collapse of trust was not sudden. It came in waves—unpaid workers, stranded car buyers, angry investors, hostile media, skeptical bankers, mocking rivals, and politicians using the Dewan name as an example of failure.
And in business, once trust is gone, it rarely returns.
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